Collections: Old and New

Early acquisitions: Ussher’s library and other collections

Archbishop James Ussher’s scholarly library – containing over 10,000 volumes, and gifted by King Charles II in 1661 – was one of the Library’s most important acquisitions. The College’s greatest treasures, the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, were presented by Ussher’s pupil, Henry Jones, vice‐chancellor of the University and bishop of Meath (1661‐82). Another important donation was the collection of books and manuscripts of Sir Jerome Alexander given on his death in 1670

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Donors and Benefactors

Some of the great benefactors are immortalised in the frieze that runs around the Long Room at gallery level: James Ussher, archbishop of Armagh, King Charles II, Dr William Palliser, archbishop of Cashel, who bequeathed over 4,000 books in 1726, and Dr Claudius Gilbert, vice-provost and professor of Divinity, whose library of 13,000 volumes was added in 1735.

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Further valuable additions were to come; in 1741 the Stearne‐Madden bequest, which included the 1641 Depositions; Edward Lhuyd’s Irish-language manuscripts in 1786; the Hendrik Fagel library in 1802; and Henry George Quin’s collection, bequeathed in 1805. Quin (1760‐1805) was a wealthy young man from a cultured background who began his book‐purchasing career in his 20s. He took his own life at the age of 45 and bequeathed to Trinity College Library 110 books, a book‐case in which to keep them, and instructions that the bindings were never to be altered. His interests were fine editions of Greek and Latin classical authors and Italian Renaissance literature, but the unique element of Quin’s books lies in their exquisite bindings, sometimes commissioned by Quin himself.

The Fagel Collection

One of the most important collections in the Library is that of Hendrik Fagel, chief minister of the Netherlands at the time of Napoleon’s invasion. This collection of around 20,000 books and manuscripts was purchased for the College in 1802. The printed books in the collection are its major strength, but it also contains important maps and manuscripts. It mainly consists of continental works, including Dutch, French, German and Italian, as well as a number of works of individual importance for both their literary content and aesthetic merits. The collection was placed in a separate room at the east end of the Long Room, where a section of it still stands today behind a grille.

Early acquisitions: shelf marks and identification

The early collections of books and manuscripts can be identified by the shelf‐mark written in iron gall ink on the cut and coloured fore‐edge of each item. These shelfmarks consisted of four parts: first the letter H for Humanities or T for Theology, followed at the same level by two groups of numbers – the first is the class division, there being 10 for Humanities and 12 for Theology, and the second the shelf number; below this line is placed the individual item’s number on that shelf. Other marks of identification on volumes include MS ‘ex libris’, and awl‐ and chisel‐stabbed perforations in the pages and folios themselves

In the Long Room, on the ground floor and on the gallery, the books are shelved according to size. The book stacks on the north side were designated A to W, and AA to WW on the south side, and the volumes were given shelfmarks accordingly.

Copyright Act and storage

Under the Copyright Act of 1801 Trinity College was designated as one of two legal deposit libraries in the country (the other being the Kings Inns), which meant that it was entitled to a copy of all books published on the two islands. The first recorded consignment of books arrived in August 1802. At first the intake was small, but it soon increased to such a degree that, following another Copyright Act in 1814, College began to experience storage problems in the Long Room. The volume of books continued to increase steadily; by the early 1840s the building contained about 90,000 volumes.

Early Printed Books and Special Collections

Today the shelves of the Long Room and gallery hold around 200,000 volumes, which form part of the holdings of the Early Printed Books and Special Collections. The reading room of this department is located in the east pavilion of the Old Library, where researchers can consult a selection of works, including incunabula and other early printed books and pamphlets, private press items, limited editions, signed books, and Anglo‐Irish literature.

Themes of the exhibition

• Introduction
• The Old Library
• The New Library
• Collections: Old & New
• The Working Library