17th century engraved frontispiece
The fabulous frontispiece of Gaspar Schott's 'Magia Universalis', printed in Bamberg in 1677. Its subject matter includes optics & acoustics, represented by the scattered instruments at the bottom of the page.
Opening showing frontispiece and red and black title page of 'Der Neue Gulliver', Hamburg, 1731
A German translation of a fake sequel to Gulliver's Travels, one of the books on display in our current exhibition 'Gulliver 300' celebrating Jonathan Swift's masterpiece. We're open 9.30-5.00pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am-5.00pm on Saturday #Exhibition #GulliversTravels
Delighted to welcome to our Library Xikun Zhu (1st Sec) and Hu Yaodan (2nd Sec.) of the culture section of #Chinese Embassy in Dublin.
Pictured from left to right: Ms Yaodan; the Director of Marsh's Jason McElligott; the Assistant Director Amy Boylan; and Ms Zhu. #china
The closing date is Thursday 16th at 5pm, not Friday 17th. Apologies & blast the lack of edit button!
Photo of 'the cages' in Marsh's Library
Image of blue tits and kingfisher in gouache on vellum, c.1730
Page from a 16th century herbal showing hand-coloured poppies
Applications for the inaugural 'Museum Plinth Project' close this Friday 17th April. The residency offers artists a 6-month residency to engage with the collections of Marsh's Library or the National Museum. visualartists.ie/advert/open-...
Detail from The Dublin Journal issue 1650, April 1743
The famous advertisement in the Dublin Journal from the organisers asked 'Ladies not to come with Hoops' and 'The Gentlemen .. to come without their swords' as they were expecting such big numbers!
First page of a copy of Handel's Messiah showing manuscript music
Tonight the Irish Baroque Orchestra & Choir perform Handel's Messiah in Dublin Castle, for the anniversary of its premiere in Dublin on 13th April 1742. Our manuscript was copied by John Mathews in 1761 & is full of information about variant settings & early performance
Hand-coloured woodcut from Icones Stirpium, 1591
Hand-coloured love apples, otherwise known as tomatoes, from 1591
Tall wooden bookshelves on the left hand side. A ladder is propped up against one bookcase. The shelves are filled with brown leather books. AT the end of the corridor there is a portrait of Archbishop Narcissus Marsh.
That time of year again! Join us on Saturday 9th May for Culture Date with Dublin 8! We will running guided tours at 11am, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm for €5 per person! Book here: www.eventbrite.ie/e/1985437713...
#CultureDate #CultureDateWithDublin8
Our exhibition to mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Gulliver's Travels is now open to the public. We hope you'll find it an interesting mix of rare first editions, children's books and toys, and a death mask!
On #WorldHealthDay it transpires that we must celebrate the comeback of leeches in modern medicine. The old remedies are the best aren't they?! These delightful mages are from 'De animalibus insectis libri septem' #Aldrovandi (1602)
Image of the 1st gallery of Marsh's Library showing the bays on the left side, with the portrait of Marsh over the door at the end
Marsh's Library will be closed on Good Friday, 3rd April, and will reopen on Saturday 4th from 10am to 5pm.
Hand-coloured engraving of plants from 1809
Commercial plants in 1809: coffee, flax, cinnamon, indigo and tobacco. From John Payne's 'Universal Geography', printed down the road from us in the Coombe.
Ownership inscription & colophon showing date and place of publication.
Title page printed in red and black of a book from 1506
Lost book, found? This is the lovely title page of a 1506 confessional by Bartolomeo Caimi printed in Rouen. After double-checking the details on the Universal Short Title Catalogue (www.ustc.ac.uk/editions/443...) it may be the only surviving copy of a book thought lost!
@apettegree.bsky.social
Title page of 'The usefulness of the stage' (London, 1698)
An impassioned defence of the stage for #WorldTheatreDay : '...in maintaining the cause of the stage I am defending Poetry in general ... pleading for eloquence, for History and philosophy. I am pleading for the reasonable pleasures of mankind ... the nourishments of Youth & the delights of Age'
Their secrets must be contained!
Photo of a table covered in 17th century books, all closed, some with archival tape ties
A *few* books currently in the reading room for cataloguing. They're from the collection of our first librarian, Élie Bouhéreau (1643–1719). Spot the odd one (or two) out!
It seems to be how he is generally shown, stripped of identifying clothing and shoes so that no relics remained for his supporters
Woodcut of a man being burned at the stake. Text in Latin above and below.
Maddock Fellow Alexandra Ballová from Masaryk University is Brno is looking at our books about Czech theologian & reformer Jan Hus. Here he is looking serene while being burned at the stake for heresy in 1415.
Detail of page of a 13h century manuscript showing text in black and initials in red & green
Detail of 13th century manuscript showing text in black and a manicule or pointing finger
Beautiful red & green initials decorate our 13th century manuscript of the life of St Kentigern (also known as St Mungo). A reader has also added 'manicules' to indicate important sections #ManiculeMonday #ManuscriptMonday
Page from 17th century book showing text and an astrological table indicating the perfect celestial conditions to produce the perfect musician
Written in the stars! The birth chart of the perfect musician. From Marin Mersenne's Les Preludes de l'harmonie universelle, printed in Paris in 1634.
Map of Scotland rom Blaeu's Atlas Major
Map of Gaul from Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, c.1590 (Parergon)
Herman Moll's map of Ireland 1714
Maps of Scotland, France (well, Gaul), and Ireland for the weekend that's in it! #SixNations
Currently setting up our new exhibition on #Swift and #GulliversTravels to mark 300 years since its publication. We're particularly happy with this staging of A Modest Proposal (1729), for which thanks to Joan Moynihan.
Photo of a 16th century binding
An unusual panel on this 16th century binding, possibly Swiss? It covers Martin Bucer's Du royaume de Jesus Christ nostre saveur printed in Geneva in 1558 #Bindings
Title page of biography of Denis the Carthusian : Dionysii Carthusiani, Doctoris extatici vita, simul & operum eius fidissimus catalogus (Cologne, 1532)
Denis the Carthusian hard at work among his books, on the title page of his biography from 1532 #TitlePageTuesday
Photo taken from the top of the steps of Marsh's Library showing the entrance and St Patrick's Close
A blanket of blossom, bird song, & sunshine in the Close; spring has made a welcome return this morning!
Page from a manuscript (handwritten) book showing text and an elaborately decorated border, with the coat of the king of France at the bottom of the page.
Page from a printed 15th century book with an illumiated initial E
Some blingy books for world book day: A mid-15th century manuscript of Caesar's Gallic Wars, written on vellum, and that once belonged to the king of France; and our earliest printed book, the letters of Cicero to his friends printed on paper in 1472. Shiny! #WorldBookDay
An exciting call for artists' residencies at Marsh's Library and National Museum of Ireland: visualartists.ie/advert/open-...
Engraved plate from 17th century book showing music, a map and tarantulas
The music to cure 'tarantism', a frenzied state thought to be caused by a tarantula bite. From the third ed. of Magnes, Athanasius Kircher's work on magnetism, printed in 1654