THE BOOK OF HELLS. Described by Sir Edward Sullivan, Illustrated
with 24 Plates in Colours. Third Edition. (Studio. 30s.)—Sir Edward Sullivan's labour of love has not been without the reward which he would most value. This minute description of ancient Ireland's most wonderful work of art, and the reproductions of so many of its pages and of the separate ornamented letters, have been sought for by so many people that a third edition now appears—still at a high price, which the conditions necessitate. It is not always easy to reproduce even a modern painting acceptably in colour ; and when the thing to be copied is the page of a volume more than a thousand years old, which many centuries ago was long buried for concealment, the task is -pe-rilous. Yet the results here are truly admirable. For those who do not happen to know its fame, it may be well to .say that the book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of the_ Gospels written and painted (though the painting is properly a form of writing rather than painting as we understand the word) in the ninth century at latest ; and the special genius for intricate elaboration which marked Irish work in all kinds not least in literature—is here carried to an almost incon- ceivable degree. The cunning which devised and accom- plished these interlaced spirals is never likely to be recaptured : but the main lines of the decoration still affect modern Irish work. Apart from Ireland, all lovers of strange beauty and consummate craftsmanship may be glad to know where these copies are obtainable.
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