A little bit o' the Irish

A selection from the National Library of Ireland.

Broadsides

Before there were newspapers. Link…

Browne and Ehret

Patrick Browne - The civil and natural history of Jamaica in three parts [2.ª ed.], 1789. Illustrated by Georg Dionysius Ehret. Link…

I wonder how Georg felt about that extra 'e' being added to his name?

Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)

"A Comprehensive Delineation of the Thirty-two Counties, with a Beautifully Colored Map of Each, arranged Alphabetically, showing over 11,000 Cities, Towns, Villages, and Places of Public Interest.
Embracing over Two Hundred Illustrations of the Natural Scenery, Public Buildings, Abbeys, Round Towers and other Romantic Places, reproduced by Eminent Artists from Photographs especially taken for this Work."

The history section is quite interesting, for example: "The pagan Irish warriors sometimes took the brains out of champions whom they had slain in single combat, mixed them up with lime, and rolled them into balls, which hardened with time, and which they preserved as trophies. It was with one of these balls, which had been abstracted from his armory, that Conor Mac Nessa was wounded." Link…

Undersea Cables

History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications. Link…

Irish Postage Stamps - Cinderellas

The portrait type of Carson also appears in a 1914 etching by John George Day (National Portrait Gallery, London; NPG 2916); whether the Day etching was in fact the specific model for the poster stamps is not certain.


The Irish White Cross Society was founded on 1 February 1921, to (in its own words) "cope with the distress and destitution resulting in Ireland from the war caused by the determination of the Irish people to assert their right to nationhood."

The Cinderella Stamp Society, founded in London in 1959 - refers to the so-called stepchildren of philately: an often bewildering variety of items formatted like postage stamps but not primarily definable as such. Link…

Free State Art

The Irish Free State established by the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) following the War of Independence (1919-1921) pursued a project of cultural nationalism which among other aims focused on reviving the Irish language. The Cumann na nGaedheal government established An Gúm, the publications branch of the Department of Education (later Oifig an tSoláthair/the State Publishing Agency) in 1925-1926 to supply textbooks and fiction in Irish for the educational and recreation needs of the newly independent Ireland. Link…