Exploring the Book of Kells

Exploring

by George Otto Simms

A beautiful and simple introduction to the Book of Kells, one of the world's most famous illuminated manuscripts, with a newly-expanded colour plate section.Here George Otto Simms, a world-renowned authority on the Book of Kells, reveals the mysteries hidden in this magnificent manuscript. He introduces the monks who made the book and guides the reader through the intricate detail of this ancient and exotic book.Also available in French, German, Spanish and Japanese.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Ireland, Art, Medieval, Christian, Religion

72 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1976

About the author

George Otto Simms was born in Dublin in 1910. He took his BA, MA, BD, PhD, and DD degrees at Trinity College, Dublin. Ordained a priest of the Church of Ireland in 1936, he spent his working life in the service of the church and was Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 1969 until his retirement in 1980. A noted scholar and historian, he lectured and wrote extensively, particularly on The Book of Kells, on which he was internationally recognised as an expert. For almost 40 years he contributed a weekly religious feature,'Thinking Aloud', to the Irish Times. George Otto Simms died in 1991.
Exploring the Book of Kells was Dr. Simms first book for the younger reader and received wide acclaim. It was a winner of the Reading Association of Ireland Award, and together with his second book for children, Brendan the Navigator, Exploring the Ancient World, was joint winner of the BISTO Book of the Decade Award. His third and last book prior to his death was St. Patrick, The Real Story of Patrick, who became Ireland's Patron Saint.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent for what it is: a brief introduction to the famous Gospel manuscript. I feel like it was written with children in mind, and it does a great job holding readers' interest.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding introduction and general reference book to The Book of Kells. I learned a lot!

[Maja · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ogromnym plusem są tutaj ilustracje aczkolwiek nie ukrywam, ze czytało mi się to jak czytanke dla dzieci

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

An 80 page summary of a book that took 30 years to create... And pretty well done. Informative. I liked this one because it kept a focus on the monks, the painters of the Book of Kells, and illuminated the creation process. Academic but also very light--a good summary but if you really want to know about the Book of Kells this would go best with other, more intense research.

[Cheri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure where I picked this up, but I finally got around to reading it this week. It is a tiny hardback book that has pencil drawings on several pages. It took me about half an hour to finish it. I had high hopes for this book. The author is billed as a "world-renowed authority" on the Book of Kells who holds a BA, MA, BD, PhD, and DD from Trinity College. He was an Anglican priest and archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. Such credentials sound scholarly, but this book lacks citations and feels more like a third grade book report than a serious study of the topic. Perhaps this was intended to be coffee table book for tourists who visited Ireland? The first 1/3 of the book describes things like what a monastery is and riddles about vellum and provides poems about life as a scribe. There are a variety of semi-related stories, such as when the Book of Kells is stolen. Sentence structure is very simple and often lean more toward opinion than fact. (Here's an example from the section on "Writing Tools": "Goose quills seem to have made good pens.") When he finally gets around to discussing the imagery of the Book, it is not well-laid out. Here is an example of a discussion of what he calls "the Christmas page": "The longer we look at this golden-yellow Christmas page, the more fascinating details of circles, spirals, and gracefully curved lines give us the feeling of the new life of peace and happiness that Christ came to bring." Do circles and curved lines generally mean new life, peace, and happiness to you? I'd skip this one.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good things: a great, simple overview of monastic life at the time "The Book of Kells" was written and why the book itself was written. Lots of pictures, so the reader isn't just engulfed in text.

Bad things: I get that this overview of "The Book of Kells" is for a younger audience and the younger audience might not be looking for this amount of information but, if you are going to talk about the little tiny details in the pictures in the book in question, you should probably have pictures or illustrations of the little tiny details in the pictures in the book in question. Otherwise, just talking about it is sort of uninteresting and mildly pointless. Seriously, some of the pictures the author wrote about were presented, but only in part; the tiny details he wrote about (to some length, actually) were not shown or were cut out of the picture or were so tiny as to not be visible.

Your enjoyment of this book will probably depend on your informational focus.

[Robin Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

When people ask me what type of books I like, my reply is usually books that have pictures in them. This book has lovely reproductions and illustrations of the finer details from this great work of art. I really enjoyed the chapter about Columba, who founded Iona which was later relocated to Kells after being attacked by Vikings. The author was rather passionate about this subject and it shines through in this book. He passed away 3 years after it was published but his legacy lives on through the lovely books he left us with.

[Meghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a sweet little book. It's very simplistic in its language and limited in color images of the Book of Kells itself. That said, if you'd like a brief history of the monks who created the Book of Kells, and descriptions of the most decorated pages and their intricate details, this book is a nice primer. You can definitely read it in a day or two. I especially enjoyed learning about Saint Columba and his great love for books and animals. Look for a truly darling drawing of Columba admiring a crane on page 17.

[We_Read_ at_Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got this book at Trinity College when I visited the Book of Kells. Was really hoping this book would add to my experience, but for me it the information was too juvenile and some of the references were very unclear or without a picture to accompany it. I think I got more information at the exhibit itself. Disappointing!

[Shani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely introduction to the Book of Kells.

[Frank Brennan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had read a review of this in a magazine and found it in my library. Having been to Dublin's Trinity College and viewed the the book, I was totally underwhelmed by this thin book. Fortunately, I did not buy it!

Don't you and don't even read it.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much an introduction to the Book of Kells. A short overview of the history of the Book, and some exploration of the more important pages. The language used is a little simplistic here and there - probably to make it accessible for kids, too.
All in all a good introduction, but not very deep.

[Jeff McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little exposition on this cool ancient hand written, hand decorated Bible. Gives a fair amount of detail on the background of the books people as well as pointing out some of the graphical details found within.

[Jonathan]

None

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little simplistic with nothing good to trace. It did give me some good information about the history and dimensions of the Book of Kells though.

[Red · Rating 3 out of 5]

A souvenir from Dublin. A good startingpoint to begin grasping the early christianity in Europe.