Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library

Treasures.. is an exhibition of some of the items in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The exhibition continues at the RIA (19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2) until December 23 2008
The exhibition is normally open Mon – Fri, 10.00am – 5.00pm (dates of conference meetings excluded). Visitors welcome, groups by appointment, tel. 01-676 2570; email: library@ria.ie.
The exhibition is designed to coincide with the publication of a new book, Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library, edited by Bernadette Cunningham, Siobhán Fitzpatrick and Petra Schnabel, scheduled for publication by the Academy in late November 2008.
Unusual items from the Academy’s ‘Treasures’ currently on display include the harp made by John Egan of Dublin in 1821 and owned by Thomas Moore, Ireland’s national poet, and the Senate Casket designed in 1924 by Mia Cranwill to hold the membership roll of the first senate of the Irish Free State. The original roll, containing the signatures of the senators, is also on view.
The Academy Library’s unique collection of Irish manuscripts has been assembled over more than two centuries, beginning in the Academy’s foundation year, 1785, when the Book of Ballymote was presented by the Chevalier O’Gorman. Pride of place in the collection goes to the Cathach, or Psalter of St Colum Cille, believed to date from the late sixth century. Other notable vellum manuscripts among the collection include the so-called Leabhar Breac, dating from the early fifteenth century – the largest Irish vellum manuscript by one scribe – and the original manuscripts of the Annals of the Four Masters, probably the first substantial original Irish compilation written on paper. Among the highlights from the nineteenth century are the Ordnance Survey Letters, Memoirs and Drawings, and examples of these are also included in the exhibition.

Tagged as: Exhibitions, Royal Irish Academy