History of Early Printing in Irelmid 9 



The next stage in printing in Ireland was the making and 

 sending over here of a fount of Gaelic type. It was not at all 

 good or correct Gaelic type. The letters were in some instances 

 defective, the "a" was simply an italic "a." However it was 

 sent over for the express purpose of printing the Book of Common 

 Prayer and Bible in Irish, and is known as the Queen Elizabeth 

 fount of type. The first work printed with it was a religious 

 poem on the "Last Judgment," and next a small booklet entitled 

 shortly "The Alphabet and Catechism." The type was said to 

 be provided at the expense of Queen Elizabeth and the printing 

 was done at the expense of John Usher, a Dublin citizen. What 

 is still uncertain about these two pieces of printing is, who was 

 the actual printer of them. The imprints on each differ. The 

 imprint to the poem is regarded by some as indicating that John 

 Usher himself printed it. Now John Usher w^as a citizen of 

 Dublin, of a family of some standing and importance, but there 

 is no indication that he was by occupation or trade a printer. 

 He seems rather to have been a wealthy merchant or of that 

 standing. The imprint to the " Alphabet and Catechism " 

 simply states that this little book was printed " at the cost of 

 John Usher." Now the compiler of the Alphabet and Catechism 

 was the Revd. John Kearney (or O'Kearney) a dignitary of the 

 Established Church attached to St. Patrick's Cathedral. He it 

 was who later on translated the Book of Common Prayer and the 

 New Testament into Irish, or took part in doing so, and it is 

 possible that John O'Kearney printed both the Poem and the 

 Catechism. But when we come very soon to deal with and con- 

 sider what is left on record of the second known printer in 

 Dublin, William Kearney, himself a relative of the Rev. John 

 O'Kearney, the idea at once occurs to one that possibly William 

 Kearney was the actual printer of Poem and Catechism, as we 

 know that he was the actual printer, later on, in part at least, of 

 the New Testament. A point of this kind is of course of very 

 small importance, but it is always of interest to the bibliographer 

 to note definitely who printed any book. 



