Select documents: Sir James Ware's bibliographic lists

Abstract

At first glance the low yield of books produced by the Dublin printing presses for circulation in early Stuart Ireland could lead to two hasty conclusions: first, that Irish society was unreceptive towards reading; and second, that the printing presses had to contend with a very small (literate) target audience. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. In recent years Raymond Gillespie has done much to dispel these suppositions. His appraisal of English port books, printing press accounts from the continent and library borrowing lists plainly demonstrates the appetite of an interested reading public in Ireland. The value of analysing book loaning lists was further underlined by William O'Sullivan when he partially revealed the borrowing records belonging to the historian and antiquarian, Sir James Ware. In so doing, he drew attention to the potential of a deeper exploration of Irish cultural and intellectual life.

New perspectives on pre‐Restoration Irish book history

“…Omitted from the Catalogus were printed books which formed a large part of his library. The recent reproduction of a number of Ware's bibliographic lists dated between c .1619 and 1638 reveals that his library was far bigger than the Catalogus would lead us to believe (Empey, , pp. 121–5).…”

“…It enabled him to negotiate the transmission of manuscripts that were in the hands of government officials. For example, Adam Loftus, Viscount Ely and lord chancellor, provided Ware with the register of Monastrevin, while Sir John King, who held offices in the Irish chancery and hanaper, loaned him the register of the monastery at Boyle (Empey, , pp. 121–2).…”