€1,150
Annala Rioghtach Eireann. Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616. Edited from Mss. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College Dublin, with a translation and copious notes, by John O.DONOVAN. Second Edition. Dublin, Hodges & Smith 1856. 7 volumes 4to. later half calf, spines modestly gilt with contrasting red and black lettering pieces. A handsomely bound set of this cornerstone of any Irish library. Such set rarely appear for sale.
Although a number of manuscript copies were circulated, this monumental work remained unprinted for more than two centuries after its compilation by Fr. Michael O’Clery and his associates (1632-36). Eventually in 1846, Owen Connellan issued his translation into English of those Annals which cover the period after the Norman invasion. Connellan’s work was so severely criticised, that the Dublin bookseller George Smith, employed the renowned Irish scholar John O’Donovan to make a fuller and more accurate translation, with copious annotation. This he did with considerable assistance from Eugene O’Curry, the work first appearing in three volumes 1848-51. Its success was immediate, so O’Donovan was encouraged both to turn his attention to the period before the invasion, and to produce the Indexes to Places and People, which are so helpful to the researcher. As a result, copies of his [first] edition are sometimes found bound in five cumbersome volumes with the later period preceding the earlier years, and with seven title pages included in the final volume, to allow subscribers the option of rebinding their sets in correct chronological sequence. In this “second” edition, the text remained unaltered, but for the first time sets were offered for sale in seven more manageable volumes, and in their correct order
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