A reminder that the library will be closed for the next two weeks for our annual stock take, Monday 3 August to Friday 14 August.

It is the last Friday of the month, which means the Cathach will be on display today from 10am to 12.15pm, as the library will be closed this afternoon for a staff event.

A reminder that the library will be closed tomorrow afternoon for a staff event. If you plan to view the Cathach, please come before 12.00 so we can ensure access!

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 P 7, the Annals of the Four Masters. Two full sets of the annals were prepared by the Four Masters and are now divided into multi-volume sets. www.isos.dias.ie/RIA/RIA_MS_2...

MS 23 P 7 (The Annals of the Four Masters) (Royal Irish Academy)

isos.dias.ie

Two printing blocks; almost 150 years apart! In 1827, this block was used to print a facsimile of a handwritten statement by Fr Thomas Maguire, authenticating the published report of his public debate with Rev. Richard Pope on the doctrines of the Catholic Church. 1/2

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 E 25, Lebor na hUidre/Book of the Dun Cow. It was written in Irish at Clonmacnoise before 1106 A.D. In 2012, with @ceilteachomn.bsky.social, we held a conference on the book. The papers were published as Codices Hibernenses Eximii I & recordings are available.

Wonderful to see the Kinahan Collection highlighted here in this article about Peadar McArdle's recent book. Peadar worked his way through the extensive diary collection of Henry and Harriette Kinahan, housed here in the Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie

Clodagh Finn@clodaghfinn.bsky.social · 4w ago

The diaries of field geologist Henry Kinahan and his artist wife Harriette paint a vivid picture of science in the 19th century, even though they wrote only 10 or so words a day. See Peader McArdle's illuminating new book. #SpeirGorm www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

We're delighted to announce that images of an Icelandic manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy collection have been added to handrit.is. Handrit is a joint electronic catalogue of Icelandic manuscripts preserved in Iceland and abroad. It is a project of the National and University Library of Iceland.

A Member with a great sense of humour! Harold G. Leask MRIA (1882-1962) was an architectural historian and archaeologist. We are updating records for a set of offprints of his work. Leask had them bound in four volumes, which carry his rather wonderful bookplate!

I’m on a boat! Excited to head to Wales for our @amarc.bsky.social Summer Meeting at Bangor University, and here’s an image of Noah’s Ark from the Book of Ballymote to celebrate, @rialibrary.bsky.social MS 23 P 12, f. i-v 🚢🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🎉

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 O 48(b), Liber Fergus Fergusiorum. The manuscript is of Connacht provenance and from the names of places mentioned, written in Co. Roscommon.

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 O 48(b), Liber Fergus Fergusiorum. The manuscript is of Connacht provenance and from the names of places mentioned, written in Co. Roscommon.

It is, indeed, a heartache. 😞 Rest in peace, Bonnie. (Solar eclipse, glass plate, 1905, photographer: Aidan Liddell. Royal Irish Academy)

Thank you to everyone who braved the heatwave to join us for @liber-ray.bsky.social's Curator's talk and tour of Ink & Innovation!

What links this 1496 astronomical tract and the first President of Ireland? 📖🔎 Come find out tomorrow at our lunchtime Curator's Talk and Tour of the 'Ink & Innovation' exhibition by @liber-ray.bsky.social! Last few tickets available through the link below: www.tickettailor.com/events/royal...

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 D 17, the Ó Cléirigh Genealogies. The scribe of this mid-17th C genealogical manuscript was Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, one of the compilers of the Annals of the Four Masters.

Admittedly, the positioning of the RIA Library stamps in the past was not always ideal... but the effort made by someone to remove them from this book seems excessive!

A reminder to researchers and visitors that the Reading Room and the "Ink & Innovation" exhibition is closed today. They will both be closed on Thursday also, due to staff events and training. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS 23 P 10(ii), the Book of O’Lees. This medical manuscript contains a translation from Latin into Irish of a highly organised medical treatise, with 44 tables outlining details of diseases, each divided into 99 compartments, across, aslant, and vertical.

🥵 So hot even the earth is wearing a sun hat! Les Terres du Ciel (Paris, 1884) by Camille Flammarion. A renowned French astronomer, many of Flammarion's works were deposited by J.E. Gore MRIA, his English language translator. This section criticises Pope Clement VIII's suppression of heliocentrism.

Here is a beautiful baby binding, and also, we are on 1,399 followers. 🫡

Dr Alison Ray gave a curator's tour of our exhibition, Ink & Innovation, during Re-mediating the Early Book Pasts and Futures (REBPAF) conference today. The conference is taking place over three days at the Royal Irish Academy. We're delighted to share our wonderful incunables with the conference!

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS 23 P 26, the Book of Fenagh. Written in Irish in 1516 for Tadhg Ó Rodaighe, hereditary comharb of St Caillín in Fenagh. It is written on good quality vellum and contains prose and verse. The writing is in double columns and some capital letters are filled in red.

Working very hard on important reshelving work this Thursday afternoon... and definitely not getting distracted by enormous colour engravings of corpse flowers. Transactions of the Linnean Society, Vol. 13.

For an in-depth recent study of the Stowe Missal, see the PhD (2021) done in the Dept of Early Irish @ceilteachomn.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie by my former student Lars Nooij. And: www.ria.ie/blog/bringin... Lars also recorded this video for @ria.ie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_P...

Library of the Royal Irish Academy@rialibrary.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS D ii 3, the Stowe Missal. Written in Latin between A.D. 792-803, the Stowe Missal is a Mass-book of the early Irish Church, small enough to be carried around for the use of a priest on his travels.

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS D ii 3, the Stowe Missal. Written in Latin between A.D. 792-803, the Stowe Missal is a Mass-book of the early Irish Church, small enough to be carried around for the use of a priest on his travels.

This exhibition will be on display at the Royal Irish Academy until December, 2026. Opening hours are 10:00 – 17:00, Monday – Friday. Drop-in visits are welcome but, to avoid disappointment, we strongly advise visitors to contact  library@ria.ie or 01 609 0601 to ensure the room will be available.

Ink & Innovation - visit the @rialibrary.bsky.social exhibition showcasing some of the earliest printed books produced in Europe. Find out about ground-breaking developments in printing technology and the development of the profession in the 15th century: www.ria.ie/library/libr...

Today is the feast day of St Columba (Colum Cille), who according to tradition, wrote the Cathach (RIA MS 12 R 33) as a copy of a Latin psalter belonging to St Finnian in a single night. A dispute arose about the ownership of the copy leading to the battle of Cúl Dreimne in AD 561.

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS 23 P 2, the Book of Lecan. The manuscript is an early 15th-century compilation of Irish genealogical, historical, biblical and hagiographical material.