The cataloguing of the collection of Irish printed books which comprises upwards of 6,000 volumes, has now been completed. In addition to those mentioned in last year's Report, the following provincial presses have been catalogued:-Churchtown, Clonmel, Coleraine, Comber, Cookstown, Cork, Londonderry, Downpatrick, Drogheda, Dromore, Duncairn, Dundalk, Dungannon, Dungarvan, Ennis, Enniscorthy, Enniskillen, Fermoy, Galway, Gorey, Gortin, Hillsborough, Kells, Kilkenny, Killarney, Kilmore, Kilrush, Ladiston or Ledestown, Larne, Letterkenny, Limerick, Longford, Loughrea, Lurgan, Magherafelt, Mallow, Mohill, Monaghan, Mountcharles, Mountmellick, Mount Trenchard, Mullingar, Naas, Nenagh, Newry, Newtownlimavady, Omagh, Parsonstown, Portadown, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Skibbereen, Sligo, Strabane, Tandragee, Thurles, Tralee, Trim, Tullamore, Tuam, Warrenpoint, Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, Youghal. The items printed in the smaller towns consist for the most part of books of local interest, and belong to a later period. But from the presses of the more important towns, such as Cork, Kilkenny, Waterford, etc., are to be found examples of 17th century printing, also reprints, and some rare books of intrinsic value, such as, "A declaration of the Commons of England in Parliament assembled . repr. at Kilkenny, 1648," and "Monarchy no creature of God's making, etc., . Chief Justice of the Province of Munster, pr. at Waterford in Ireland, by Peter de Pienne, in 1651." The collection also contains a number of quaint little Song Books produced in various towns, Chapbooks, and some Broadsides. The printed entries for all the above have been laid down in the General Catalogue and Subject Index in the Reading Room. By John Cooke . The revision of the Subject Index has been continued down to the letter J. As a result over 450 missing entries have been recovered and laid down in the various volumes. The Orrery Correspondence and Papers, described in the Appendix to the Report for 1928-29, and amounting to nearly 750 pieces, have been catalogued and laid down in chronological order in five volumes. In this form they are readily available for consultation. An Index of the most important proper names occurring in them is now almost completed. The Lake Correspondence, relating to the outbreak of the Rebellion in Ulster in 1798, mentioned in the Report for 1925-26, has been arranged and bound in the same manner. During the year the Library suffered a severe loss by the death of Miss Dorothea Ferguson, Assistant Librarian, after thirty-three years of devoted service. Miss Ferguson, who joined the Library Staff in 1897, was a graduate in modern languages of the Royal University, having made a special study of German Language and Literature. Her knowledge of the pamphlet literature of Ireland and of Irish music, upon the cataloguing of which she had been engaged for many years, was quite. exceptional, and in these departments she was constantly appealed to as an authority. The vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Gerard Murphy, M.A., Assistant Librarian, was filled by the appointment of Mr. Louis Roche, M.A. (N.U.I.), Docteur-ès-Lettres of the University of Poitiers. During the whole of the financial year the Library has been without the services of Mr. Michael J. Keogh, Library Assistant (2nd Class), who has had to resign on account of his health. Mr. Keogh had just completed ten years' service, and was a valuable member of the Staff. Two other vacancies in this class remained unfilled during the year. Steps have however been taken to fill them. The sorting of the printed papers, government publications, etc., transferred from Dublin Castle and referred to in the last Report, has been completed. This proved a long and arduous undertaking, but it has resulted in a valuable addition to the Library of several thousand official (published) papers, also a number of books and pamphlets of particular Irish interest. The residue will, in accordance with the arrangements made, be handed over to the Stationery Office. The most notable event in the Library year--indeed, in the history of the Library for many years—was the acquisition of the Irish manuscripts forming part of the Phillipps Collection preserved at Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham. The existence of these manuscripts was known to scholars for some time mainly through D'Arbois de Jubainville's well-known Essai d'un Catalogue, but he had not seen the collection, and his knowledge was derived from Hardy's printed catalogue of the Library, which registered only fifty-six MSS. Though a few of the texts had been subsequently printed or utilised, the extent of the collection, numbering 178 volumes, of which 14 are on vellum of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, remained unknown until it was examined, on behalf of the Trustees, and of the Irish MSS. Commission, in the month of November last by the Librarian and Dr. Robin Flower, Deputy Keeper of MSS. in the British Museum. As a result of their report, and on the recommendation of the Trustees, the collection was purchased for the National Library. The Trustees desire here to express their appreciation of the public spirit with which the present owner, Mr. T. Fitzroy Phillipps Fenwick met their overtures, and also of the sympathetic consideration and support which they received from the Minister for Finance, without whose aid this important collection, the last, it may be said, in private hands, could not have been acquired for the nation. The Trustees also take pleasure in recording the valuable assistance rendered by Dr. Flower. Pending the preparation of a full descriptive Catalogue, the list of the MSS. printed in the Appendix to the present Report, will, it is hoped, make their contents known to students. Here particular attention is drawn, among the vellum MSS., to No. 8214, which originally formed portion of the Yellow Book of Lecan, now in the Library of Trinity College this fragment, the existence of which was not suspected, contains the only complete version that has come down to us of the well-known mythological tale Tochmarc Étaine, "the Courtship of Étain," also of the Ulster saga Mesca Uladh, "the Intoxication of the Ulstermen"; to No. 10297, a fine Medical MS. containing the only version extánt of the ancient law tracts Bretha Crólige and Bretha Déin Checht; to No. 9194, containing the Life of Féchin of Fore; and to No. 10266 containing the Félire of Oengus; among the paper manuscripts, to No. 17082, containing the Sex Aetates Mundi and various historical poems transcribed from ancient sources by Cucogry O'Clery, one of the Four Masters; to No. 10275, Keating's Eochair-sgiath an Aifrinn, "Defence of the Mass," in the beautiful handwriting of John (son of Tórna) O'Mulconry, dated 1657, the earliest copy known; to No. 10283, Keating's History of Ireland, transcribed by the well-known poet Seán Ó Tuama in 1759; and to No. 15613, an imperfect copy of the same work transcribed by the poet Eoghan Ó Caoimh in 1694. Included among the MSS. are two copies of that rare Irish Glossary of Brother Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, printed at Louvain in 1643, and entitled Foclóir nó-sanasán Nua, only three copies of which have been previously recorded. The two in question are enriched by MS. additions, one at the hands of Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, the other of Edward O'Reilly, the lexicographer. The Library also acquired by purchase the collection of over 2,000 letters forming the correspondence of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Gordon (1764-1819) while Viceroy of Ireland, 1807-1813. These documents are of great importance for the history of the administration of Ireland during that period, many of them being marked " private & confidential." They deal with a variety of topics, among others the Maynooth Grant, the Catholic Committee, Daniel O'Connell's activities, Church benefices, English elections, a plot against Wellington's life, duel between Canning and Castlereagh, etc. There are letters of the Duke of Wellington (several hundred in number), also of Lords Melville, Liverpool, Sidmouth, Earl Bathurst, Sir Robert Peel, Rt. Hon. R. Dundas, S. Percival, R. Ryder, W. W. Pole, C. Arbuthnot, etc. Lady Mabel Annesley kindly deposited in the Library, for the use of the Irish MSS. Commission, a MS. volume of Fitzwilliam Papers relating to Irish public accounts and revenue for the period 1560-65, to be transscribed by Miss Ada Longfield, M.A. The Municipal Corporation of Kilkenny deposited a second time, also for the use of the Irish MSS. Commission, the MS. known as the Liber Primus Kilkenniensis, which was transcribed for publication by Mr. Charles McNeill. Lt.-Col. the McGillycuddy of the Reeks deposited (temporarily), for consultation by qualified students, a large folio volume containing the original family papers, comprising deeds, orders in court, and other documents and correspondence relating to the lands of the McGillycuddies, and dating from the close of the 16th century. A selection of these valuable papers was published by W. Maziere Brady, D.D., in 1867. In connection with the Vergil Bi-millenary celebrations throughout the world in the month of October, an Exhibition was arranged of the earliest extant, and a few of the more notable medieval, MSS. from the Facsimile collections in the Library. The Exhibition remained open for three weeks, and as the only one of its kind in Ireland, attracted many visitors, as a result of the appreciative notices in the public press. In the Appendix will be found a list of donors, also particulars of the more notable acquisitions. Here the Trustees desire to draw particular attention to (1) the valuable collection of papers of William Smith O'Brien, M.P. (1803-1864), presented by Mr. Dermod O'Brien, P.R.H.A. These papers comprise his diaries and correspondence, including a number of autograph letters of John Mitchel, Thomas Davis, Michael Doheny, and Thomas D'Arcy McGee, and other prominent participators in the Young Ireland Movement" of 1848, also addresses presented to O'Brien by public bodies in Ireland and Australia. They will provide students of this period with fresh material of no small interest; (2) the set of Irish Almanacs and Directories from 1770 to 1839, 65 volumes in all, presented by Mr. Edward C. Jameson, through the Irish MSS. Commission; (3) the sumptuous edition of the Vita Nuova of Dante in decorative script by Nestore Leoni, with coloured miniatures and decorations by Vittorio Grassi, published at Bergamo in 1921 to commemorate the sixth centenary of the poet's death, presented by the Marquis MacSwiney of Mashanaglass; (4) the volume of the Roxburghe Club for 1931, entitled "The Double Bottom, or Twin-hulled ships of Sir William Petty," presented by the Marquess of Lansdowne; (5) Stanihurst's " De Rebus in Hibernia Gestis," printed at the Plantin Press, Leyden, 1584, Charles O'Conor of Belanagare's copy, with notes in his handwriting, formerly in the Library of the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe, presented by Mr. O. Grattan Esmonde, T.D.; (6) the MS. Minute Book of the Blackrock Association against Housebreaking, 1782-97; a volume of photographs of the Illuminated addresses presented to Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Bart., by the citizens of Dublin, in connection with his restoration of St. Patrick's Cathedral in 1870, and Pictures from the Iveagh Bequest and Collections, edited by Sir Charles Holmes, 1928, etc., presented by Senator Henry Guinness; (7) the MS. journal of Commander Rochfort Maguire, kept on board H.M.S. Plover on the Behring Straits Arctic Expedition, including a journey to the Sandwich Islands via the isthmus of Panama, 1852-54, together with other volumes, presented by Dr. Katharine Maguire; (8) " Bibliographia Scientifico-Tecnica Italiana," with continuation, presented by the Italian National Research Council, Rome; (9) four parchment Rolls containing the Oath of Allegiance to George III, the Declarations against |