Statistical Report 1935-1936 - Department of Education and Skills

126 127Mr. T. Gaisford St. Lawrence presented upwards of forty volumesfrom the library of Thomas Gaisford, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford,with his bookplate, among them being Gibbon's" Decline and Fallof the Roman Empire," and Miscellaneous works, 20 volumes, 1802-1814, and Hurne's "History of England," 8 volumes, 1796-1797.Mr. P. Murphy of Brixton Hill, London, presented upwards of 260volumes of general literature, many relating to Ireland.A remarkable specimen of 18th century Irish binding was acquiredat the sale of the late W. M. de Zoete's collection. It covers a foliovolume of the Irish Statutes printed in 1765, and is strikingly similarin design and execution to that of the well-known Journals of the IrishHouse of Commons which perished in the fire at the Four Courts, thoughrubbings and coloured reproductions of these are happily in existence.It is of red morocco, gilt, with diamond-shaped centre inlay of whiteleather, richly decorated with leafy flower sprays, pomegranates, etc.In the Department of MSS. there have been some notable additions,of which the more important are: " Memoirs of the most remarkablepassages in the life and death of Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery, by hischaplain Thomas Morrice," 1711 ; " Parochiale Hibernicum," by JohnLodge, being an account of the Churches in the different dioceses ofIreland, c. 1771; "Purgatorium Hibernicum, or the Sixt Booke ofVirgills Aeneis'"; "Travestie Burlesque a la mode de Fingaule," 1680;" Description of the County of West Meath, by Sir Henry Piers ofTristernaugh," c. 1690,-the above from the Phi1lipps Collection." The Original Instructions to Thomas Lee Straunge, Thomas Dillon,and Captain William Collyar, from the Lord Deputy Sir H. Sydneyand the Council, for their conduct as Commissioners for the provinceof Connaught" ; also" Commission to the same for the suppressionof the rebellion of Ulick and John Burck, sons of Richard Earl ofClanrickard," dated Galway 21 July 1576; Edmund Spenser's "Vieweof the Present State of Ireland," about 1600, one of the few contemporarycopies of this important work, which was first publishedby Sir James Ware in 1633. Both of these are from the Gurney(formerly Macro) Collection. "The Articles of agreement (in Latinand English) between the Earl of Essex and Turlough O'Neill, Captain-General of the Province of Ulster," with marginal notes in the handwritingof William Cecil, Lord Burghley, dated 27 June, 1575, anotherdocument of first-class importance. In this Department there hasbeen further substantial progress in the arrangement and bindingof the numerous loose documents and papers. Indexes have beenmade of the William Smith O'Brien, Melville, Sydney, and RichmondCorrespondence. But pending the completion of the Librarian Staff,the work of Cataloguing this rapidly growing division has had to besuspended.The Division of Maps has received many notable additions, chieflyfrom the PhiHipps Collection, comprising maps and original plans,engraved and coloured, of Ireland generally, together with a series of53 original surveys and plans of various parts of Dublin, dating from1718, many of them signed by the Surveyor. The outstanding acquisitionwas, however, the first engraved map of the British Isles,attributed to George Lily: " Britanniae insulae quae nunc Angliae etScotiae Regna continet, cum Hibernia adiacente nova Descriptio,Romae, 1546." Only four other copies of this map are known, two beingin the United States. A re-issue of it by Sebastiano di Re, Rome,1558, itself exceedingly rare, was also acquired. Another importantaddition, from the Library of Kilkenny Castle, is the original MS.of the maps and plans of a Military Survey of Ireland, made in 1685by Captain Thomas Phillips, and containing several "prospects" ofIrish towns, beautifully executed in water-colour.In the Division of Prints and Drawings the principal accessionshave been, in addition to the portrait-sketch of Robert Emmet alreadymentioned, two characteristic pencil drawings of Readers in theNational Library by the late Walter Osborne, R.H.A., the gift ofProfessor W. F. P. Stockley, D.Litt. of Cork. Further, the watercolourdrawings by Francis Grose, prepared for his" Antiquities ofIreland," and comprising churches, castles, abbeys, and antiquarianremains, numbering 138 pieces, the greater part unpublished. TheyWere executed probably in 1791. A similar but smaller collection madeapparently by Col. Burton the antiquary about 1780 Was also acquiredat the Phillipps Sale. It includes drawings and plans by GabrielBeranger, Angelo M. Bigari, etc. The task of re-arranging and cleaningthe many thousands of prints on the Collection goes on apace. The"Descriptive Catalogue of the Irish Portraits," numbering upwardsof 3,000, referred to in former Reports, is now completed, and isabout to be placed in the printer's hands.The Staff changes announced in last year's Report have provedsatisfactory. The service of the Reading Room has been greatlyfacilitated by the twelve new Attendants. It was not found possibleto make any appointments to the two posts of Assistant Librarianduring the financial year. Steps are, however, being taken to fill thevacancies.The Bibliography of Irish History for the period 1912-21, was notissued, as it Was confidently hoped, during the financial year, owingto unforeseen delays in the Press. The work is now, however, infinal page form, and publication cannot be much longer delayed. Acompanion volume covering the period 1870-1911 is in preparation.The fourth "List of Publications deposited under the terms ofIndustrial & Commercial Property (Protection) Act," 1927, covering