Dr Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard is the most distinguished historian of the book in Ireland. Her two volumes, Dublin’s Trade in Books 1550-1800 (Oxford, 1989) and Dictionary of members of the Dublin booktrade 1550-1800 (London, 2000) received international acclaim and are regarded as the standard works in the field. She has also published numerous articles on a wide range of subjects and has been to the fore in the protection and conservation of historic Irish libraries and their contents.

The festschrift is being published in conjunction with the Library Association of Ireland Rare Books Group and contains contributions from distinguished scholars on topics in Irish historical bibliography and children’s literature.

The contents include:

• ‘Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard’ – Toby Barnard (Oxford)
• ‘Children and books in eighteenth-century Ireland’ – Andrew Carpenter (UCD)
• ‘Two early printed squibs from Cork’ – Pat Donlon (Director emerita, NLI)
• ‘Sophia Rosamond Praeger (1867-1954): a woman of many talents’ – Raymond Gillespie (NUIM)
• ‘Irish cathedral libraries before 1700’ – R.J. Hunter (UUlster)
• ‘John Franckton (d.1620): printer, publisher and bookseller in Dublin’ – Maire Kennedy (Gilbert Library, Dublin)
• ‘At the exchange’: the eighteenth-century book-trade in Cork’ – W.J. McCormack (Rockcorry)
• ‘Reflections on writing and editing, with reference to PRO (Kew) CO 904/1-3 & HO 161/1-5’ – W.N. Osborough (UCD)
• ‘Tribulations of a King’s printer: George Grierson II in court’ – J.-P. Pittion
• ‘Aspects of the history of the Saumur Protestant book-trade (1601-1684)’ – Hermann J. Real
• ‘Swift’s non-reading’ – James Woolley
• ‘Poor John Harding and Mad Tom: ‘Harding’s resurrection’ (1724)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Benson (1946–2018) was an outstanding bibliographer and scholar of international repute. A leading authority on the 19th- century Irish book trade, he suceeeded the legendary Mary Pollard in the role of Keeper in 1988. His 23-year tenure as Keeper was marked by his vision of the early printed collections in the library as a key resource for scholars, for students, and for the public.

Siobhan Fitzpatrick is a journalist, editor, educator, playwright and poet.