The collection was established in the 1970s by withdrawing items published before 1851 from the Library’s general holdings. Most of these items were purchased between 1849 (when the College was founded) and 1900. Some were received from institutions such as the Royal Cork Institution, the old Cork Public Library and the Royal Irish Academy. Since then others have been added to the collection. The collection contains c13,000 volumes, including almost 2,000 volumes of folio and elephant folio size. The main subject coverage is history: Irish, English and European; philology, palaeography, literature, music, philosophy, natural sciences and medicine are also represented. The majority of items are from the 18th and 19th centuries with a small portion from the 16th and 17th centuries. Languages: French, German, Italian, Latin, Irish Gaelic, Greek, Dutch, Spanish. The collection also holds a small collection of pamphlets. In addition, there are various serials such as Anthologia Hibernica which ceased publication after four years, as well as penny magazines and journals. These short runs of early periodicals are valuable from an Irish studies perspective and the history of literacy in Ireland.
Gilchrist, Alexander. Life of William Blake: with selections from his poems and other writings. London: Macmillan and Co., 1880.
The Art Nouveau cover is designed by Frederick Shields.
Sleath, Eleanor. The orphan of the Rhine: a romance in two volumes. Dublin: Printed for G. Burnet [etc.], 1802.
For more about this item see the blog post "The Orphan of the Rhine: Lending to the British Library."
Selby, Prideaux. John. A history of British forest-trees : indigenous and introduced. London: J. van Voorst, 1842.
For more about this item see the online exhibition: Life on Land: Trees and Birds from the 17th to 21st Centuries.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. A Paris: De l'Imprimerie royale, 1770-1786.
For more about this item see the online exhibition: Life on Land: Trees and Birds from the 17th to 21st Centuries.
Darwin, Charles. Geological Observations on Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands, and on South America. London: Smith, Elder, 1851.
For more about this item see the online exhibition: Our Evolving Relationship with Life Below Water.
O'Begly, Conor. The English Irish Dictionary. An Foclóir Béarla Gaoidheilge. Paris: Seamus Guerin, 1732.
For more about this item see the online exhibition: Matters French.
Two classification schemes are present in the Older Printed Books Collection: Dewey Decimal System and a classification scheme devised by Alfred O'Rahilly in the 1920s.
