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Henry Rzepa's Blog

Henry Rzepa's Blog
Chemistry with a twist
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The Book of Kells is a spectacularly illuminated gospel manuscript dating from around 800AD and held in Trinity College library in Dublin. Some idea of the colours achieved can be seen below.  I thought it would be of interest to list how these colours were achieved. Black ink was made from oak-galls mixed with iron sulfate and acetic acid from wine or vinegar.