In 1967 Louis le Brocquy was commissioned by publisher Liam Miller to illustrate Thomas Kinsella's inspired version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the record of Ireland's proto-historic past.

Dating as far back as the 12th century in manuscript form, this legend has been treated both academically by scholars and linguists and romantically by such Revival writers as Yeats and Lady Gregory.

The artist noted, "Any graphic accompaniment to a story which owes its existence to the memory and concern of a people over some twelve hundred years, should decently be as impersonal as possible.

Widely acknowledged as the great Irish Livre d'Artiste of the 20th century, Seamus Heaney writes in The Listener: "The book is illustrated lavishly and magnificently by Louis le Brocquy: 'marks in printer's ink', he calls his contribution, 'shadows are thrown by the text'.

The remote significance of the story, the bold vigour among the ranks of heroes and the wily, sexual presence of the women are continuously insinuated by the graphic commentary.

According to Aidan Dunne: "The brush drawings merged seamlessly with the text; stark, fluent images, they expressed with great economy of means an epic breadth, evoking the movement of vast masses of people.

Le Brocquy's achievement lies in having absorbed the general technical possibilities and harnessed them to his own specific ends, and, in the process, having managed to break new ground.

"[4] Bhriain further observed: "The strong linear quality of le Brocquy's illustrations coheres with the upright, unfussy Pilgrim font, which is also suited to the direct tone of Kinsella's translation.

The bold font of the lettering echoes the dense black of le Brocquy's images, creating a fine balance between the literary and the visual symbol.

These formal elements make it clear that The Tain is a production of carefully choreographed visual information, one comparable with the unity of Verlaine's language, Bonnard's arabesques, and the floral font in Parallèlement ...

In his Tain illustrations, the ability of le Brocquy's drawings to emerge and dissolve gives fitting expression to the peculiar marriage of mysticism and raw physicality contained in Kinsella's text.

Like gestures of primaeval fear, strength, or passion, the 'explosive' energy of the brushwork captures the physical exuberance of the text, as can be seen in the images of "bodily matters" and of violence, as in the several drawings of Cúchulainn's 'warp spasm'.

"[5] The portfolios consist of three different sets of twelve black and white lithographic brush drawings selected from the Táin illustrations - five ‘Individual Subjects’ and four chromo-lithographic ‘Epic Shields’ separate.

It will be impossible from now on to think of the Irish Iliad in terms of the pseudo-medieval clutter of the old-style illustrations - helmeted warriors laden with "props" and looking rather like understudies for a Wagner opera.

In an idiom that can take in its stride hints from oriental art, cave painting, Picasso and other sources he has created powerfully and economically an entire mythical-legendary world.

It was printed and bound by Leinster Leader Ltd with black cloth over boards, stamped in white in a design by the artist with illustrated dust-jacket.