WORLD : Book to Be Printed: $16,000 a Copy
DUBLIN — The Book of Kells, which ranks as one of the world’s most beautiful illuminated manuscripts, is going into print--almost 12 centuries after its creation.
The first full color facsimile edition of the fragile tome is to go on sale for $16,000 a copy starting in 1990, a spokeswoman for Dublin’s Trinity College said today. A limited edition of about 1,500 copies will be sold to private collectors and libraries in Europe and the United States.
The book, a lavishly illustrated Latin text of the four Gospels that was produced by Irish monks about AD 800, is kept in the College Library. It is turned to display a different one of its 680 pages each day. Profits from the edition will help to fund new technology for the library.
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