Last Sunday’s Lyric Feature, Dorothea the doozy, presented by Trinity alumna and radio documentary maker Angie Mezzetti, brings to light the work of Dorothea Herbert, a long-overlooked 18th Century writer, diarist, poet and artist from Carrick-on-Suir. Herbert’s memoir, which she called ‘Retrospections of an Outcast’, was written between 1780 to 1806 and was published for the first time in 1929. In this documentary, Manuscripts Curator Dr Jane Maxwell, a specialist in the history of women in the 18th century, introduces this memoir, beautifully illustrated with watercolours by the author – which has been in the care of the Library since the 1980s.
This document is of immense significance to the social history of Ireland in the 18th century, and especially for the history of women in a century which saw them emerge more clearly into society. What gives this document added significance is that the author was clearly suffering severely from a mental illness at a time when there was little understanding for such afflictions.
It is with deep sadness that we have learned of the death of our friend and one of lreland’s major poets, Brendan Kennelly.
Brendan Kennelly was a poet, a professor, a public figure, cultural commentator, and a mentor to many. Throughout his life on the Trinity campus he was also a great friend to the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Trinity College Dublin honoured his immense contribution to Irish life with a celebratory online event on his 85th birthday in April of this year. The Brendan Kennelly Literary Archive was also launched on the occasion of the event. With the appointment of an archivist in the Library in the Spring to oversee the cataloguing of the poet’s papers, this unique collection will be made available to students and scholars.
The celebratory event which was organised at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, during our last lockdown, featured a read message from the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins along with selected poems recited by celebrated singer, Bono, poet, Paula Meehan and Trinity student Lily O’Byrne. We were especially honoured that Brendan himself attended online from Kerry where he spent his final years. The event also prompted members of the public to contribute further items to this constantly expanding archive.
The Brendan Kennelly Literary Archive reflects all of the facets of Brendan Kennelly’s life. His work, with roots in early twentieth-century rural traditions, developed to give a voice to the marginalised urban dweller, as well as difficult historical characters such as Judas and Oliver Cromwell. The poet’s own private life has often involved struggle and triumph, both of which he has shared freely and publicly, giving encouragement to many in their own personal struggles. Professor Kennelly’s teaching influenced generations of scholars, teachers, parents, and citizens and he has always been unfailingly encouraging to younger poets, from Paula Meehan to Leanne O’Sullivan. The collection contains literary drafts, lectures, research materials, reviews, workshop material, works by others, theatrical ephemera, personal material, photographs, memorabilia, and a great quantity of correspondence
The Library’s online exhibition ‘Forever Begin’ draws from the archive and provides wonderful insight into the poet’s life and immense contribution to Irish literary and cultural life over many decades.
Readers might not be aware that the treasure that is the Edward Worth Library, based in Dr Steevens’ Hospital opposite Heuston Station, is affiliated with us here at Trinity. The dedicated staff arrange regular seminars, talks and exhibitions.The next lecture in the Edward Worth Library Seminar Series for 2020 will take place in the Worth Library at 3.00pm on Tuesday 3 March 2020. The paper will be given by Dr Catherine Scuffil (Dublin City Historian in Residence): ‘The Housing Crisis of Revolutionary Times: 1915-1922’.
Please note that seating in the Worth Library is limited and is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Future seminars are listed below:
16 April 2020: Professor Zubin Mistry (University of Edinburgh): ‘Fertility, Medicine and Monasteries in Early Medieval Societies’. Please note that this is the joint TCD/Worth Lecture in Medieval and Renaissance Science and Medicine and will take place at 5.15pm in The Long Room Hub, TCD.
20 May 2020: Professor Peter Anstey (University of Sydney): ‘Medicine and Philosophy: John Locke, Daniel Sennert and the Marciana Manuscript’.
24 June 2020: The Liberties Cultural Association: ‘Pride of Place: Love the Liberties,the story of our home place’.
Following on from Trinity College Dublin’s highly successful FutureLearn course on the ‘Book of Kells’, this course on the ‘History of the Book in the Early Modern Period: 1450-1800’ aims to share the rich resources of the Long Room of Trinity College Dublin and the Edward Worth Library, Dublin, with learners interested in the history of the book. Many of these resources have been newly digitized for this course and uncover this fascinating time of innovation and social change.
Now members of the public around the world can explore how books were made, bought, sold, and read, in a four-week online course. The History of the Book in the Early Modern Period: 1450-1800 course starts on November 18th, 2019, and is run in partnership with FutureLearn, the social learning platform. The free online course is aimed at anyone with an interest in the history of the printed book, the early modern book trade, the history of reading, the history of bookbinding, and the interaction between print and social change in early modern Europe.
Librarian of the Edward Worth Library Elizabethanne Boran, and one of the course designers commented: “This MOOC course is our way of sharing our wonderful collections with as many people as possible. Trinity College Dublin and the Edward Worth Library have thousands of books which bring to life the early modern period in the West. For this course we have digitized images from these books so that learners will be able to explore this fascinating period from every corner of the world.”
Learners will investigate rare treasures such as the engravings of Anthony Van Dyck, early editions of Aesop’s Fables and the bestselling Nuremberg Chronicle. Frontispieces, title pages, annotations, printers’ devices, and many more parts of the book are examined from this period. At the end of the course, learners will be able to describe how the early modern book trade operated, and understand how the invention of the printing press changed religious, scientific, medical and political views of the world.
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has been designed by academics from the School of Histories and Humanities, the School of English, and the Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin, with assistance from the staff of the Library of Trinity College Dublin and the Edward Worth Library, Trinity’s Digital Collections and Trinity Online Services CLG.
A new exhibition at the Edward Worth Library, which is affiliated to TCD, is now online. Entitled, ‘John Strype at the Worth Library‘, it was curated by Dr Ralph Stevens (Research Fellow at the Worth Library in 2017).
Professor Michael Brown (University of Aberdeen) will be giving a lecture in the Worth Library today at 2.00pm on the topic ‘The Birth of the Irish Enlightenment’. This lecture will mark the launch of Dr Brendan Power’s exhibition ‘Deism and the Early Enlightenment‘.
The Edward Worth Library is once again describing a “book of the month”. February’s is about Anthony Collins’ Discourse on Free Thinking (1713) in a post written by Dr Brendan Power, the Library Assistant at the Worth.
The Edward Worth Library, which is affiliated to TCD, is pleased to announce a seminar on ‘Manutius in Dublin: An Introduction to the Printer and Dr Worth’s Aldines’ by Professor Brian Richardson, Emeritus Professor of Italian Language, University of Leeds.
The lecture will take place at 15:00, Tuesday 17 February 2015 in the Edward Worth Library. Booking is essential for this seminar. To book a place, please e-mail Elizabethanne Boran or phone 01 635 2215. Directions to the Worth Library may be found at the Edward Worth Library website.
Each month the Edward Worth Library describes a “book of the month”. February’s is about a 16th-century copy of Caesar’s Commentaries and is by Elizabethanne Boran.
See it here, together with previous “books of the month”.
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