Marsh's Library

The pamphlet was printed during the Venetian Interdict of 1606-7, a quarrel between the Roman Church & Venice which led to a temporary excommunication of Venetian Catholics.

A tiny map of Venice from the title page of a pamphlet printed in 1606.

A later owner tried to wash out a scribble on the title page of this Byzantine novel, but still the ownership inscription remains. A good thing too, as it tells us the book belonged to poet & playwright Ben Jonson.

A very relatable look of 'can I just get five minutes peace with my book'. From Le Rommant de la Rose, a hugely popular Medieval poem, printed in Paris, 500 years ago.

A lovely piece about Jonathan Swift in the current issue of The New Yorker. Lots of references to Marsh's Library in it: newyorker.com/culture/the-we…

Lily of the valley blooms in May, as an early reader indicated in this herbal from 1552 #spring #flowers

The printer's mark of Huguenot printer Conrad Badius from 1562 showing a printing press and a quote from Genesis 3:19 reminding us that to labour is the lot of mortal humans: 'by the sweat of your brow you will eat'. A fitting sentiment after the bank holiday!

Happy #MayDay ! Falalas from Thomas Morley's 1595 'Balletts to five voyces' and birdsong from Marsh's Library garden, 2026!

Tulips & sea daffodils, with bonus beetle, from Daniel Rabel's 'Theatrum florae' printed in Paris in 1622

Competitive manicules! These pointing fingers each indicate important sections in the same book, a French edition of Fasciculus Temporum, a history of the world, printed in Lyon in 1483. A glimpse of the book's earliest readers & their artistic skills #ManiculeMonday

In a letter Pádraig Ó Conchubhair recounted a visit to Marsh's in 1924 when he was blocked from entering by a woman cleaning the steps. Wearing a fedora & trench coat he looked like a gunman. #census1926 has possibly given a name to our defender, library caretaker Mary Ann Gwynne

Still room left on our #CultureDateWithDublin8 tours! Book here: eventbrite.ie/e/198543771364…

The cataloguing and digitisation of records was funded by the Heritage Council. The full finding aid is available in pdf on our website along with 44 volumes of members registers & minute books : web.marshlibrary.ie/catalogue/Reco…

We're delighted that the Archive of the Order of the Friendly Brothers was signed over to Marsh's Library on 9th April. Marsh's Governors Archbishop Michael Jackson, Dean William Morton and Ms Patricia Quinn were in attendance, with Mr Roger West & Mr Hamish Logan from the Order.

The fabulous frontispiece of Gaspar Schott's 'Magia Universalis', printed in Bamberg in 1677. Its subject matter includes optics & acoustics, represented by the scattered instruments at the bottom of the page.

For our #exhibition 'Gulliver 300' we have a new guest minifigure, Lemuel #Gulliver. See if you can find him along with the rest of the #MarshsMinifigures when you visit the Library!

@CollectorsShop @tcddublin @NLIreland From 1707 'All graduates & gentlemen', but no reader records survive from then. Our earliest records start in 1826 and list students, academics, clergy, professionals, with women signing from mid-century. TCD was not a public library & the NLI opened in 1877.

@MarshsLibrary Genuine questions: Who were the 'readers' at this library in the 17th 18th and 19th C? What differenciated the content at this library from, say, @tcddublin and the @NLIreland?

A German translation of a fake sequel to Gulliver's Travels, one of the books on display in our current exhibition 'Gulliver 300' celebrating Jonathan Swift's timeless masterpiece

Delighted to welcome to our Library Xikun Zhu (1st Sec) and Hu Yaodan (2nd Sec.) of the culture section of Chinese Embassy in Dublin. Pic from left to right: Ms Yaodan, the Director of Marsh's Jason McElligott, the Assistant Director Amy Boylan, and Ms Zhu. @ChinaEmbIreland