Catalogues and Finding Aids

Early Printed Books & Special Collections

Library Catalogue

The Library Catalogue works like a search engine. The most relevant results are listed and can then be refined using the word tags and options presented on screen.

• Provides detailed catalogue records for much Early Printed & Special Collections material
• Allows limiting of searches by language, date and to Special Collections material

If unsuccessful in finding an item when limiting a search to Special Collections, please try the search again selecting the cross to the right of Special Collections to clear the limit to that section of material.

Reference Collection

The Reference Collection in the interim Research Collections Study Centre documents all aspects of the history of the book. Items with the call number prefix OL are stored on the shelves in the Study Centre and are available for consultation in the reading room without submitting call slips. The Collection includes:

• General works on the history of the book
• General, author, national and subject bibliographies
• History of printing and publishing
• Book collecting and book selling
• Bookbinding
• Paper and watermarks
• Book illustration
• Biography
• History of periodicals
• History of Trinity College Dublin
• Catalogues of other libraries

See also the Named Collections page for a listing of frequently consulted collections.

Manuscripts & Archives

The Manuscripts & Archives Online Catalogue provides remote access to details of many of our collections. The curatorial staff welcome questions which will enhance the information provided online.

Use the search box above for the Manuscripts and Archives collection. The catalogue contains over 24,000 records dating from the 13th century BCE to the present day.

Manuscripts & Archives has a very large collection of research materials spread over a broad chronological and subject range. The collections are numbered simply from IE TCD MS 1 up to the most recent accession: a single manuscript reference number may refer to one volume or may refer to a large modern collection comprising many boxes of loose papers.

Summary descriptions are available on this online catalogue for most of the holdings. For some of our collections, the summary description will link to a PDF of a full descriptive list which can be accessed by clicking the button ‘Click here to access Finding Aid’.

Some significant elements of our collections are not yet covered by this online catalogue, for example the papyri and much of the University archives await inclusion. We continue to add to the online catalogue; in the meantime, the staff in Manuscripts and Archives will be happy to guide your research if you contact us by e-mail at mscripts@tcd.ie. Published catalogues are available for some elements of the collection; these may be consulted in the Manuscripts & Archives Reading Room.

• T.K. Abbott, Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin (Dublin and London, 1900)
• T.K. Abbott and E.J. Gwynn, Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin (Dublin and London, 1921)
• I. Bcheiry, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in Trinity College Dublin (Kaslik, 2005)
• M.L. Colker, Trinity College Library Dublin Descriptive Catalogue of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Manuscripts (Aldershot, 1991)
• M.L. Colker, Trinity College Library Dublin Descriptive Catalogue of the Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Manuscripts. Supplement One (Dublin, 2008)
• M. Engleberts, E. Frost and J. Maxwell, Notes Diverse Holo: Catalogues of Beckett’s Reading Notes and Other Manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin with Supporting Essays (Amsterdam, 2006)
• M. Esposito, "Inventaire des anciens manuscrits Français des Bibliothèque de Dublin" Revue des Bibliothèques 24, 30, 31
• N. Grene, The Synge Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin: a Catalogue Prepared on the Occasion of the Synge Centenary Exhibition 1971 (Dublin, 1971)
• E. Hincks, Catalogue of the Egyptian Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Dublin (Dublin and London, 1843)
• J. Scattergood, with the assistance of N. Pattwell and E. Williams, Trinity College Library Dublin: A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Middle English and some Old English (Dublin, 2021)
• J.G. Smyly, "Old Latin deeds in the Library of Trinity College" Hermathena 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74 (1945-9)
• J.G. Smyly, "Notes on Greek manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College" Hermathena 23 (1933)
• J.H. Todd, The Book of the Vaudois. The Waldensian Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of Trinity College Dublin (Dublin and London, 1865)

Digital Collections

The Digital Collections repository allows you to view and download high quality digitised images of thousands of items from our collections. Guidance on how to search within the repository are included on the Digital Collections website, and our most prominent collections feature as a selection of tiles on the homepage.

Virtual Trinity Library opens up the unique and distinct collections of the Library. The ambitious digitisation project is centred on the Library's most prized collections. It aims to make collections accessible to a global audience.