The Illustrated Life of Columba

The great sixth-century saint and founder-abbot of Iona, St Columba -- known throughout the Gaelic world as Columcille -- left a mark on history that endures to this day far beyond the Celtic lands. A detailed account of his life and deeds has come down to us in the work of Adamnan, ninth abbot of Iona, who drew on the living memory of the saint's contemporaries. John Marsden here provides a vivid description of the period, as well as a revealing portrait of the saint and his biographer. John Gregory's translation of Adamnan's Life is accompanied by Geoff Green's beautiful photographic studies of the landscape and seascape in which Columba lived and in which his spirit still thrives.