Book excerpt: Masterpiece of medieval manuscript production and decoration, its Latin text glossed throughout in Old English, the Lindisfarne Gospels is a vital witness to the book culture, art, and Christianity of the Anglo-Saxons and their interactions with Ireland, Italy, and the wider world. The expert studies in this collection examine in turn the archaeology of Holy Island, relations between Ireland and Northumbria, early Northumbrian book culture, the relationship of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the Church universal, the canon table apparatus of the manuscript, the decoration of its Canon Tables, its systems of liturgical readings, the mathematical principles underlying the design of its carpet pages, points of comparison and contrast with the Book of Durrow, the Latin and Old English texts, the nature of the glossator’s ink, and the meaning of enigmatic words and phrases within the vernacular gloss. Approaching the material from a series of new perspectives, the contributors shed new light on numerous aspects of this magnificent manuscript, its milieux, and its significance.