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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 13h

Wednesdays in the Archive📜 The countdown to Halloween is on! Today we're sharing the recommendation letter Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, supplied to gain admittance into Marsh's Library 🦇

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In 1671, Friedrich Martens travelled to Svalbard and around Greenland as ship's surgeon on the 'Jonas im Walfisch' or 'Jonah in the Whale'. These engravings of a whale & fin whale are from the diary he kept, first published in 1675, where he recorded the area's flora, fauna & whaling industry.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

An early reader left many #manicules to indicate important sections in our 14th century medical #manuscript. It is on display in our current exhibition, 'The Medieval Manuscripts of Marsh's Library', open Tuesday to Friday 9.30am-5pm and Saturday 10am-5pm.

detail of a page of a 14th century manuscript. It shows script in brown and red ink, with pointing fingers or manicules in the margins

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The whole book is coloured, and quite a few of the plants have their names added in English, as well as a few Latin annotations. The latter are quite cropped in part. There's an ownership inscription 'Pet. Archer non est possessor libri istius sed Phillipus Reganus'.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A doodle (possibly drawn from life?) in a 17th-century book of Virgil's poetry

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Hand-coloured plum trees from a 16th century herbal #NationalTreeDay

Photo of a page from a 16th century herbal, showing hand-coloured woodcuts of plum trees with the names for the trees in various languages above the image.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Happy #InternationalTranslationDay! To celebrate, we're sharing an image of Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible. The impressive six volume work presents the Old Testament in nine languages: Hebrew, Aramaic (Targum), Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek, and Latin.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Today is Michaelmas, a quarter day in the Irish calendar, and traditionally when rents were paid & contracts signed. It's also the last day to eat blackberries - after today, they belong to the Devil and will make you sick!

Detail of a page showing text in Spanish and a woodcut of blackberries. From Dioscorides' Materia Medica, 1555

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

If you'd like US$2,500 to help with your archival research on 18th-century Ireland, you should apply to the Arch Elias Fellowship. Closing date 15 November: marshlibrary.ie/aceliasfello...

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A quiet corner of Marsh’s Library, full of colour, flowers, and a little bit of calm. Sometimes the most beautiful details are just outside the books. 🌺

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Title page of 'Ichabod: or, Five Groans of the Church', written by Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells, in 1663.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

It is believed to have been written in Flanders or northeastern France

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Wednesdays in the Archive📜 Today, in celebration of our exhibition 'Gulliver 300' opening at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris last Friday, we are sharing correspondence from the last time we our books were exhibited in France.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This fifteenth-century volume gives instructions for the blessing of bells and for exorcising people who have been cursed. The instructions are written in red, with the words to be said in black. The volume will on display for our new exhibition The Medieval Manuscripts of Marsh's Library.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A woodcut initial from a psalter printed 502 years ago in London

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Our busiest ever @culturenightdub.bsky.social saw people queuing around the corner on to Kevin Street and a total of 813 visitors

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In our latest blogpost, recent Maddock Fellow Dr Stewart Duncan discusses anti-Spinoza literature in the Edward Stillingfleet collection. marshlibrary.ie/stillingflee...

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Join us this Friday, 18 September, for a free guided tour of Ireland's oldest public library. Tours run every 15 minutes from 5:30-8:45pm. No booking required. culturenight.ie/event/cultur... #CultureNight2026 #CultureNight #CultureNightDublin

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Wednesdays in the Archive📜 In 1918, Marsh's Library paid £1 17s 6d to repair bullet holes in the doors of the old reading room. Other bullet holes in the books and bookcases were not repaired and can still be seen today. Look out for them when you visit the library!

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Waste not! The blank space at the back of a 13th century Bible provided a perfect place for someone to practice their letters. The text to the left is a transcript of a papal bull granted to Dominican Order in 1227.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

It is beginning to feel autumnal here in Dublin 🍂 The poet Edmund Spenser captures the mood perfectly in The Shepheard's Calender (1579): And nowe the Westerne wind bloweth sore, That nowe is in his chiefe souereigntee, Beating the withered leafe from the tree.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A chart of the seven legendary kings of Rome, beginning with Romulus. From Ortelius's Theatrum orbis terrarum.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) created this great brass globe to record the precise position of over 1000 stars he observed from his observatory at Uraniborg. Kepler used Brahe's observational data in formulating his laws of planetary motion. From Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, 1602.

Engraving showing a globe with a celestial map

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A keening women, or funeral mourner, from 'A week at Killarney' printed in London in 1858. In their description of a keener, authors Anna Maria & Samuel Carter Hall say 'her eyes were deep-set greys, peculiar to the country'.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

A couple of 17th century limp vellum Spanish bindings. The title in large letters on the spine is typically Iberian. They cover Historica relación del Reyno de Chile, 1648 and Descripcion breve del monasterio de S. Lorenzo el Real del Escorial, 1657.

Photo of two books stacked on top of each other on a desk with other rare books standing on a shelf behind

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Sea monsters in Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum orbis terrarum. Be careful sailing near Tiguex!

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Marsh's Library will be closed to visitors from September 5th-14th as we prepare for our new exhibition. We will reopen on September 15th at 9:30am and look forward to welcoming you back.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Our colleague Olga Taranova showed them some of our collections related to Portugal, including Irish architect James Cavanah Murphy's magnificent plans of the monastery of Batalha from 1795.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

We were delighted to welcome Mr Paulo Artur dos Santos de Campos Rangel, Portuguese Minister of State & Foreign Affairs (centre), and His Excellency, João Pedro Fins do Lago, Ambassador of Portugal to Ireland (left) to Marsh's Library.

Two men and a woman in a room with a 18th century book open on display. The woman is talking about the book.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This week is the last chance to see our exhibition 'Gulliver 300', celebrating the 300th anniversary of the publication of Jonathan Swift's masterpiece. Catch it before it closes on Friday 4th September, and sets off on its travels to the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris!

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The beautiful watermark on a letter to our librarian in 1943 tells us the paper was made in Swift Brook paper mills, founded in 1785 in Saggart, Co. Dublin. They produced paper for bank notes, stamps, and also the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, before finally closing in 1972.

Sheet of notepaper showing a watermark of a tower and a hound and text 'Ancient Irish Vellum' [class of paper] and 'Made in Saggart Co Dublin'

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A magnified transection of a thistle stalk by Nehemiah Grew. Grew was one of the first scientists to use a microscope to study the internal structure of plants.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The very lovely Sandi Toksvig visited our library early in the summer, and we're delighted to see the promo video for her forthcoming shows about Irish literature for Britain's Channel 4 on the 3rd and 10th of September. vimeo.com/1210556076?s... #Sandi’sIreland #Corneliastreetproductions #Channel4

vimeo.com

Vimeo

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The names of Robert and Elizabeth Cotton are inscribed at the front of Commentarius brevis rerum in orbe gestaru (1586). Strangely, they appear to be written in a child's hand.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

16th century decorated initials spelling out the name of our founder: Narcissus Marsh

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A glimpse of a fragment of a medieval music manuscript, recycled in a 16th century binding, it's vellum lending strength as a guard. It's only a few notes, but someone might recognise it?

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Could possibly Caprelli but not sure

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Paul Geslin left a lovely detailed inscription on this 1599 Heidelberg Bible. He gives us his motto 'With trembling and joy', and tells us he bought the book in December 1618 for 18 lt (I think!). We're not sure about the bookseller if anyone has any ideas?

Detail of a page from a 16th century book with an inscription in ink

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Sounds lovely (apart from the mosie bites!)

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Squish! A mosquito caught between the pages of Isaac Barrow's mathematical lectures, printed in 1684 #WorldMosquitoDay

Bottom corner of a page from a 17th century book. Printed text is in Latin and Greek. There is a squashed mosquito in the margins.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Dutch merchant & spy Jan Huygen van Linschoten from II Par Indiae Orientalis (1599). Van Linschoten copied important Portuguese nautical charts while on assignment in Goa, which opened up the East Indies to Dutch traders.

Page from a 16th century book showing an engraving of a man and text in Latin below.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A trefoil was one of many ways early readers indicated important sections in their books. This one was left in the works of Nicolas Le Fèvre (Paris, 1614). It belonged to the antiquarian Robert Cotton before it arrived to Marsh's 320 years ago in the collection of Edward Stillingfleet #BookHistory

Detail of a 17th century printed page with text in French and a trefoil, a decorative mark to indicate importance, in the margin

Title page of Nicolas Le Fevre's Opuscula, with the signature 'Robertus Cotton Bruceus' at the bottom of the page

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

A tiny map of the world from 1732 showing California as an island. This fake news started in the 16th century & proved persistent in spite of evidence to the contrary. One of 65 maps from our very rare pirated edition of Herman Moll's Atlas minor, printed in Dublin to avoid English copyright law.

18th century engraving showing a map of the world presented as two globes side by side with a list of the trade winds above and representations of people, including allegorical characters, below

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Personally I'd advise against taking a journey and a laxative together, but I'd be wrong according to the 'Mansions of the moon'! This lunar zodiac can help with any decision from 'when should I cut my hair', to 'is it a good time to marry or take a journey'. From Astrologia restaurata, London, 1653

Part of a page from a Ramsey's Astrologia restaurata; or astrologie restored (London, 1653). It shows the first 17 of 28 'Mansions of the moon' presented in a box with columns titled 'Mansion [number]' 'sign' 'D. M' 'Qualities' and 'Elections'

Part of a page from Astrologia restaurata; or astrologie restored titled chapter II 'containing the rules of election in the cutting of hair'

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

And here he is recording his observations of the sun during an eclipse - a timely reminder not to look directly at the sun!

Illustration of two men in a room making astronomical observations

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

These are images of Hevelius' observatory in Gdansk from his word describing the astronomical instruments he used there, Machinae Coelestis, printed in 1673

Three engravings of an observatory, two on the top and one one the bottom spanning the full double page opening

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Happy solar eclipse day! The solar eclipse of the 8th April 1652 as recorded by the great Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his Selenographia #SolarEclipse

Plate showing observations of the sun during a lunar eclipse

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

An early user of this book of Donato's madrigals found the music incomplete and continued it themselves #rarebooks #music

Page showing the Basso part of Baldessare Donato's setting of Petrarch's Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta XXII with additional notes added in ink

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Splattered ink across the pages of Nicholas Faber's works, printed in 1614. Pages 118-9 show similar marks, indicating it happened when the sheet was taken off the press. A reminder of the skill involved in printing in the hand-press period & how easily things could go awry! #Printing #Errors

Opening of a book, showing pages 114-115 of 'Opuscula' by Nicholas Faber with ink splattered across the pages.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

No 484 on the left is from the library of Henry VIII, to my eye No 169 looks very similiar - someone more familiar with the royal library might weigh in! 169 is Fox's 'Gravissimae, atque exactissimae illustrissimarum totius Italiae, et Galliae' supporting Henry's annulment from Catherine of Aragon.

Detail from Liber trium virorum, Paris 1513, showing royal library inventory number 484

detail from a page of Gravissimae, atq[ue] exactissimae illustrissimaru[m] totius Italiae, et Galliae Academiaru[m] censurae ... 1530, with 'No 169' in the top corner

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