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Category: Early Printed Books

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Au Revoir Dr. Benson

Charles and Gillie Benson, Robin Adams and Andrew Carpenter in the Long Room
From left to right: Charles Benson, Gillie Benson, Robin Adams and Andrew Carpenter

Last night friends, colleagues, academics and booksellers crowded into Trinity’s Long Room to celebrate the career of Dr. Charles Benson, Keeper of Early Printed Books and Special Collections until his retirement last September.

College Librarian, Robin Adams gave the first speech of the evening, paying tribute to Charles’ professional curiosity in all the works under his care, and to the quirkiness that ensured that working with him could never be described as dull. He also alluded to the (organised) chaos that reigned in Charles’ “office” on the gallery of the Long Room, so at odds with the stereotypical view of the librarian presiding over an immaculately ordered domain. Anyone who was privileged to consult Charles at his desk will recognise the truth of that statement!

Professor Andrew Carpenter then paid tribute to Charles’ numerous academic achievements, hailing him as the world expert on the 19th century Irish book trade, particularly emphasising the importance of his Doctoral thesis, and hoping for its eventual publication. (In the meantime, a copy may be consulted in TCD Library.)

Finally Charles took the podium himself, giving a speech that, though witty as always, did not shy away from emphasising the challenges facing Trinity Library in these straitened times.

Charles entered the library in 1968 as a trainee, and joined the staff of the Department of Early Printed Books in 1972, becoming Keeper in 1988. His achievements, both academic and as a librarian, are too numerous to list here, so suffice it to say that his expertise and humour will be sorely missed by the scholars who came to consult him and by his colleagues, particularly those in the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections.

We are looking forward to welcoming Charles to the Department as a reader, and to subjecting him to the same strict reading room discipline as he always enforced with such a gimlet eye.

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The Cuala Press Archive

Catalogue of the Cuala Press.
Catalogue of the Cuala Press, November 1908. From the Cuala Press Archive.

The Cuala Press Archive was presented to Trinity College Library by Michael and Anne Yeats in 1986. The Cuala Press, initially operating as the Dun Emer Press, was run by Elizabeth Yeats from 1902 until her death in 1940.  The press grew out of Dun Emer Industries, founded by Elizabeth and Lily Yeats and Evelyn Gleeson in Dundrum in 1902 with the aim of employing Irish women in the making of beautiful things, and contributing to the training and education of working class girls. Elizabeth Yeats was in charge of the press, while Lily Yeats organised the embroidery workshop. In 1908, following a split with Evelyn Gleeson, the Yeats sisters left Dun Emer Industries and continued their work as Cuala Industries. The name of the press was accordingly changed from the Dun Emer Press to the Cuala Press. Elizabeth Yeats ran the press until her death in 1940, whereupon William Butler Yeats’ wife George took over along with Mollie Gill and another assistant. The press stopped printing books in 1946, but continued to create cards and prints. Seventy seven books were published by the Cuala Press between 1908 and 1946, starting with ‘Poetry and Ireland’ by W.B. Yeats and Lionel Johnson, and ending with Elizabeth Rivers’ ‘Stranger in Aran’. From 1969 the Cuala Press began printing books again, under the direction of W.B. and George Yeats’ children, Michael and Anne, who later presented the archive to Trinity. The archive, though fragmentary, contains useful material such as minute books of directors’ meetings, cash books, letters, business papers, some original drawings for prints and sample books. We also have the printing press itself, metal type and printer’s blocks.

A general descriptive listing of the archive is available in the Early Printed Books Reading Room at OL P 016.0941 CUA.

In the US, Boston College University Libraries also holds an archive of materials relating to the Cuala Press. The Cuala Press Printed Materials Archive consists of materials built up by Mollie Gill, one of Elizabeth Yeats’ assistants at the Cuala Press. In 2008-2009 Boston College University Libraries’ Burns Library mounted an exhibition using materials from the archive, ‘Sixty Years of the Cuala Press: A Collaboration of the Yeats Family and Mollie Gill‘. A slideshow of images from the exhibition is available at http://bcm.bc.edu/elements/summer_2008/thisbeautifulcraft/.

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They’re books Jim, but not as we know them

Hilary Fannin’s recent review in the Irish Times of a new app that re-works Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ was fascinating. The app is not unlike adventure books of old where the reader gets to interact with the text. Remember titles that gave you options such as ‘If you turn right go to p.120, turn left go to p.90’? In tablet form of course the interaction is improved with features such as annotated galleries and an easy-to-use interface.

A young reviewer was quoted on using the app that ‘You would assume it was going to be boring, because it’s old, that it wouldn’t apply any more, but when you start it you can’t stop. I went to my school library this morning to look for the actual book.’ So are old books perceived as boring? The question for our library is will this new technology and format help or hinder the promotion of 18th and 19th century texts? Happily another quote from the feature ‘I definitely want to read the original book now. I was completely drawn into the monster, what he was seeking, what his storyline will be’ would suggest the latter.

Solely in the interest of research I downloaded two tablet titles from iTunes. First off was Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The black cat.’ The app was impressive with haunting sounds and stunning graphics which enhanced the reading experience. It was created by Crocobee who also created my other download, the James Joyce story ‘Araby’ which is equally entertaining. Neither title is as interactive as ‘Frankenstein’ but both do enhance the text in a unique way.

Oh, and even better both apps are available for free in the iTunes app store. Frankenstein can be currently purchased for €3.99.

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Australian Ambassador Visits Trinity

Susie Bioletti, Robin Adams, Meg Johnson, and Bruce Davis looking at the display honouring ANZAC day in the Berkeley foyer.
Susie Bioletti, Robin Adams, Meg Johnson, and Bruce Davis. Photograph by Sharon Sutton.

Last Friday the Australian Ambassador, Bruce Davis, accompanied by Meg Johnson, visited the Library. They were met by the Librarian, Robin Adams, and the Keeper of Preservation & Conservation, Susie Bioletti, who first showed them the display honouring ANZAC day in the Berkeley Library foyer and then brought them to the Henry Jones Room where Helen Beaney from the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections had laid out a number of items relating to 19th century Australia, including settlement, exploration, birds and mammals. After some time perusing and discussing this material, the party continued to the Long Room to visit the Tercentenary exhibition.

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Still Harping on Treaties …

It’s hard to escape talk of treaties at the moment, with all the usual suspects setting out their stalls in preparation for the upcoming referendum on the EU Fiscal Treaty. No need here to revisit the long, complicated, and often fraught, relationship the Irish electorate has had with treaties. Indeed, none to date have proved more contentious than that which marked simultaneously both our first tentative steps toward nationhood, and civil war.

One of our ongoing projects here at EPB is to catalogue the Samuels Collection of Irish printed ephemera. Collected by Arthur Warren Samuels (variously royal Lord Chief Justice, Solicitor General and Attorney General, to Ireland) during the political upheavals of early 20th century Ireland, it provides real insight into the public debates of that time. In particular, many of the pamphlets relate to that period between the signing of ‘The Treaty’ (Dec. 1921) with Britain, and the beginning of Civil War (June 1922). While the subject matter of the treaty debates has moved on, the themes, headlines, arguments and even some of the main players, remain strikingly similar. Emigration, sovereignity, and political responsibility are still the watchwords of the discourse. Of the interested parties, Sinn Féin is as vocal today as it was in 1922, and indeed still advocating a ‘no’ vote.

Would the following selection of headlines really look so out-of-place on any blog or broadsheet today?

See our online catalogue listings for the Samuels Collection, for more information.