Editing Book of Kells (section)

====Book of Kildare====
The 12th-century writer [[Gerald of Wales]], in his ''Topographia Hibernica'', described seeing a great Gospel Book in [[Kildare]] which many have since assumed was the Book of Kells. The description certainly matches Kells:

{{blockquote|This book contains the harmony of the [[Four Evangelists]] according to [[Jerome]], where for almost every page there are different designs... and other forms almost infinite... Fine craftsmanship is all about you, but you might not notice it. Look more keenly at it and you will penetrate to the very shrine of art. You will make out intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so exact and compact, so full of knots and links, with colours so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this was the work of an angel, and not of a man.}}

Since Gerald claims to have seen this book in Kildare, he may have seen another, now lost, book equal in quality to the Book of Kells, or he may have misstated his location.<ref>Henry 1974, 165.</ref><ref>Brown 1980, 83.</ref><ref>Sullivan, The Book of Kells 1920, Page 5.</ref>