Editing Book of Kells (section)

== Significance ==
The Ireland in which the Book of Kells was crafted and manufactured, writes [[Christopher de Hamel]], "was clearly no primitive backwater but a civilization which could now read Latin, although never occupied by the Romans, and which was somehow familiar with texts and artistic designs which have unambiguous parallels in the Coptic and Greek churches, such as carpet pages and Canon tables. Although the Book of Kells itself is as uniquely Irish as anything imaginable, it is a Mediterranean text and the pigments used in making it include orpiment, a yellow made from arsenic sulphide, exported from Italy, where it is found in volcanoes. There are clearly lines of trade and communication unknown to us."<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Hamel |first=Christopher |title=Meetings with Medieval Manuscripts |publisher=Penguin |year=2017 |pages=124–125}}</ref>