Lindisfarne Gospel Plate
(Limited Edition)
A superb quality 10-inch plate specifically designed and manufactured for the Lindisfarne Heritage Centre by Mexus. Using the Lindisfarne Gospels, the central spiral motifs are inspired by the St.Mark initial page and the spiral and knotwork by that of St.John. The outer zoomorphic animal motifs are from each of the four gospels. A very limited edition - only 100 plates have been made - definitely a collector's item.

Lindisfarne Gospels Mug
Large pottery mug with unique Lindisfarne motif designed for and available only from the Lindisfarne Heritage Centre.

Order: Lind01

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MOUNTED PRINTS

Reproductions of some of the most stunning pages in the Lindisfarne Gospels.

All prints are 20 1/4 ins. x 16 1/2 ins. (51 x 42 cm.) and are supplied
in a gold bevelled cream mount

Order: Lind03

Order: Lind04

Order: Lind05

Order: Lind06

Order: Lind07

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The Lindisfarne Gospels (large version)
by Janet Backhouse
 
The Lindisfarne Gospels, a manuscript produced on the Northumbrian island monastery of Lindisfarne at the end of the seventh century, in honour of Saint Cuthbert, is one of the world's master-pieces of book painting. It is a precious relic of early Christianity in England, and one of the nation's latest treasures.
This is the first book to make the chief glories of the Lindisfarne Gospels accessible to a wide public. All the important illuminated pages are reproduced in colour from a new and accurate set of photographs.
In her introductory chapters Janet Backhouse tells the story of Lindisfarne and of Saint Cuthbert, and describes how the manuscript was made. A sequence of the great illuminated pages is then followed by an absorbing account of their relationship to earlier and contemporary works of art. The final chapter traces the history of the manuscript right up to the present day.
Now reissued as a paperback, 'The Lindisfarne Gospels' is a fitting tribute to one of the world's greatest works of art.
Janet Backhouse was an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library, which owns the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Painted Labyrinth - by Dr. Michelle Brown
 
The Lindisfarne Gospels is one of the world's greatest works of art in book form and this new study describes the history and production of this breathtaking artwork, as well as introducing new findings. Made around 715/20 AD at the Island's monastery its maker was one of the greatest artists of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic worlds. The book discusses:

• The world and faith around 700 AD
• Britain and Ireland in the 7th and 8th centuries
• When, where and how was the Lindisfarne Gospels produced
• The text, script and calligraphy of the Lindisfarne Gospels
• The Evangelist portraits
• Procedures for making a medieval manuscript
• What the Lindisfarne Gospels meant to its makers and to society

Michelle Brown PhD is Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at The British Library, and author of many books and articles.

St.Cuthbert his Cult and his Community to AD1200
 
'Exceptionally rich and varied... Registers the immense progress that has been made during the last fifty years in the study of Anglo-Saxon history.' - Journals ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
'Very fine collection of essays... a rich feast of scholar-ship with many discoveries and new interpretations of greatest value for Anglo-Saxon history. - SPECULUM
 
Cuthbert, saintly bishop of Holy Island in the seventh century, who lived and died a hermit on the rocky island of Farne, was also a figure of great political and territorial power, in his life and even more so after his death. Several early Lives of him were written, two by Bede himself, and his tomb attracted sumptuous treasures - among them a portable altar, the figured wooden coffin, the Lindisfarne gospels, and rare elaborately worked silks.
The community to which Cuthbert belonged revered him as perpetual guardian and landowner, and he was credited with making one king and inspiring the loyalty of others, not least of Alfred. Tradition also has it that in 995 he miraculously chose Durham as the site for his church: the wealth and prestige of his community laid the foundation for the later power of the prince-bishops of Durham.
The studies in this book, ranging over the saint's life, Lindisfarne and its manuscripts, the treasures of the coffin, and the community and the cult, vividly convey Cuthbert's great influence, and his significance in the early history of England.

THE BOOK OF KELLS
AN ILLUSTRATED INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUSCRIPT IN TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN - by BERNARD MEEHAN
'By far the best modern short account of one of the great monuments of early Irish civilization ... required reading for anyone interested in the subject' (THE IRISH TIMES)
 
The Book of Kells is the most spectacular of a group of manuscripts created in Ireland and northern Britain between the seventh and tenth centuries,a period when Irish monasticism was in the vanguard of Christian culture. Its earliest history remains controversial but it was in the keeping of the monastery of Kells, Co. Meath, for most of the Middle Ages - hence its name - and has been in the library of Trinity College Dublin, since the mid seventeenth century. It is a masterpiece of medieval art - a brilliantly decorated copy of the four Gospels with full page illustrations of Christ, the Virgin and Child and the Evangelists, and a wealth of smaller decorative painting that does not always relate to the sacred text. The strange imagination displayed in the pages, the impeccable technique and the very fine state of its preservation make it an object of endless fascination.
This edition includes the most important of the fully decorated pages plus a series of enlargements showing the almost unbelievable minuteness of the detail - spiral and interlace patterns, human and animal ornament - a combination of high seriousness and humour. Accompanying the illustrations is a new, up to date text by Bernard Meehan, the current Keeper of Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin. It provides a scholarly analysis of these exuberant inventions, the artists, the text and the writing, and a full account of the historical background to the miraculous world of the Book of Kells.
With 117 illustrations, 110 in colour