| Description: |
Printed by W. Folds and Son, Dublin. 1823. First and only Edition, half-title, [viii],51pp., one of 50 copies printed for private circulation, engraved frontispiece by Martyn, presentation inscription by the author on half-title, orig. printed boards, spine slightly rubbed otherwise in superb original condition. While in Ireland as chief secretary (1812-18), Sir Robert Peel asked William Shaw Mason, the Irish topographer and statistician to assemble for him ‘a select Irish library’. The result was an outstanding collection of Irish material of which ‘Bibliotheca Hibernicana’ is the catalogue. It lists 125 books (uniformly bound in green morocco) under headings such as Antiquities, History, Topography, Biography, Tourists and Finance, and explains the reason for the selection of each by giving a synopsis of its contents. Bradshaw 2728. |
