Restoration carried out on the Book of Kells
The manuscript has been rebound an estimated four times since its creation, the first of which took place in 1742 and was done by John Exshaw. He rebound the manuscript into seven cords (Jones, 2011). The next rebinding took place in 1821, which resulted in heavy damage being done to the BOK. The pages were trimmed and as a result, several of the illuminations and part of the text were destroyed. The BOK was rebound again in 1895. Powell rebound the manuscript in the 1950s (i.e. into four separate volumes, which is its current iteration).
Preservation of the Book of Kells
Measures have been taken to preserve the Book of Kells (BOK). Notably, the manuscript has been rebound into four volumes, one for each of the Gospels. Only two volumes are out on display at any given time. Furthermore, the volumes on display are stored in a specialised climate controlled case (Knies, 2012) .