‘A Miracle of Learning’: Studies in Manuscripts and Irish Learning: Essays in Honour of William O’Sullivan

This volume celebrates the work of William O’Sullivan, the first keeper of manuscripts at Trinity College, Dublin, who preserved, made more accessible and elucidated the documents in his care. The manuscripts throw new light on the society of Ireland, the place of the learned and literate in that world, and its relations with Britain, Europe and America. Some of these essays clarify technical problems in the making of famous manuscripts, and bring out for the first time their indebtedness to or influence over other manuscripts. Others provide unexpected new information about the reigns of Edward I and James I, Irish provincial society, the process and progress of religious change and the links between settlements in Ireland and North American colonization.

Table of Contents:
Contents: William O’Sullivan: four appreciations, Toby Barnard, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Elizabeth Hickey, Katharine Simms; The earliest dry-point glosses in Codex Usserianus Primus, Pádraig Ó Néill; The Book of Kells and the Corbie Psalter (with a note on Harley 2788), Bernard Meehan; Lebar Buide Meic Murchada, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín; The travels of Irish manuscripts: from the continent to Ireland, Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel; Lebor Gabála in the Book of Lecan, Tomás Ó Concheanainn; Codex Salmanticensis: a provenance inter Anglos or inter Hibernos?, Pádraig Ó Riain; Two previously unprinted chronicles of the reign of Edward I, Marvin Colker; English Carthusian books not yet linked with a charterhouse, A.I. Doyle; Reforming the Holy Isle: Parr Lane and the conversion of the Irish, Alan Ford; Preliminaries to the Massachusetts Bay Colony: the Irish ventures of Emanuel Downing and John Winthrop, Sr, Rolf Loeber; The hagiography of William Bedell, Karl S. Bottigheimer; Learning, the Learned and literacy in Ireland, c.1660-1760, Toby Barnard; A description of County Mayo c.1684 by R Downing, Nollaig Ó Muraíle; Charles Lynegar, the Ó Luinín family and the study of Seanchas, Katharine Simms; A select bibliography of William O’Sullivan; Manuscripts cited; Index.

About the Author :
Toby Barnard, University of Oxford, UK, Daibhi O Croinin, University College, Galway, Ireland, and Katharine Simms, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland;

Review :
’As a Festschrift should, [this book] captures the interests, character and influence of its recipient. The book reflects Billy O’Sullivan’s vast scholarly range, the richness of the manuscript collections at Trinity College, Dublin, of which he was the distinguished Keeper, and also his proverbial gift for hospitality and companionship.’ English Historical Review, Vol. 114, No.4 ’This volume, put together with obvious care and devotion as a festschrift for William O’Sullivan...is an impressive tribute to the wide-ranging interests of its honoree...It also provides the rest of us, students and specialists alike, with a panoramic survey of the treasures and curiosities still available in this corner of the world and the potential work that can be done with them.’ Libraries and Culture, Vol. 34, No. 4