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In the library at Trinity College Dublin is a magnificent codex: the Book of Kells. This is 680 pages of elaborately illuminated vellum. It has been calculated this would have needed 185 calves. It is a latin text of the gospels with scenes from Christs life and sundry other decorations for use on the altar. It dates from somewhere between 500 and 800 AD. It is thought to have been produced in Iona, an island off Mull in Western Scotland but after a series of Viking raids it was moved for safety to Kells in County Meath in Ireland.

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