120 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



of them, would probably be deemed tedious, but perhaps some brief 

 particulars on the subject may not be uninteresting. 



There does not appear to have been any printing in Ireland till 

 1551,^ when a volume hereafter noticed was produced in Dublin. 

 Many years before 1551 works of Irish writers were published on the 

 Continent. Among these was that entitled Manipulus riorum — 

 Handful of Flowers " — by Thomas de Hibernis, printed at Piacenza 

 in 1483. This very elegant specimen of typography is a small folio 

 volume, printed in double columns, with the initial and capital letters 

 painted red and blue. Towards the close of the fifteenth century one 

 of the most important printing offices in Venice — that of Ottaviano 

 Schott — was under the supervision of an Irishman, Maurice O'Pihely, 

 known on the Continent as " Mauricius Hybernicus," or " de portu," 

 from the harbour of Baltimore, lands in the vicinity of which belonged 

 to his sept. [Works of O'Fihely were printed at Ferrara in 1499, 

 and at Venice in 1501.] O'Fihely acted as Professor at Padua with 

 great reputation, and was subsequently appointed Archbishop of 

 Tuam. [Two of his books, printed in 1501 at Venice, are now laid 

 on the table.] Prefixed to one of his works was "Mauritio Hiber- 

 nico : divinarum humanarumque rerum interpreti eminentissimo." 



The first book printed in Ireland — already referred to — was the 

 Book of Common Prayer, &c., after the use of the Church of England, 

 published by Humphrey Powell in 1551.^ The printing is in black 

 letter, and the volume contains 140 pages, exclusive of calendars, 

 rubrics, and introductory matter. Powell had previously carried on 

 printing work in London at his ''dwelling above Holborn Conduit." 



Through the kindness of Dr. Abbott, Librarian of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, I am enabled to lay before the Academy reproductions of the 

 first and last pages of Powell's volume. I am indebted to Mr. Green- 

 wood Pim for the photographs, which are in a size smaller than that 

 of the pages of the original book. 



The first book printed in the Irish language appeared at Dublin in 

 1571. It is a small volume of fifty-four pages, each page containing 

 on an average twenty -three lines. The contents — entirely in the Irish 

 language — are an introduction to the Irish language, Catechism of 



^ According to the Records of the Privy Council of England, Powell received 

 from King Edward VI. in 1550 money to aid him upon his setting up a press in 

 Dublin, and that year may now be taken as the first in which a printing press was 

 started in Dublin, 



2 Besides the copy in T.C.D. Library, there is only one other (at present) known 

 to exist, and that is in the Library of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 



