Irish (Gaelic) MSS Literature and Catalogues of Same

Irish (Gaelic) Manuscripts Catalogues of Irish MSS

Irish MSS (condensed listing - for editorial use only)
  • MSS Codices: The Book of Armagh; The Book of Ballymote (c.1400); The Book of Durrow; The Book of Fermoy; The Book of Glendalough; The Book of Leinster (c.1150s-65); The Book of Lismore; The Book of the Dean of Lismore; The Book of the Dun Cow, Book of the O’Conor Don; The Book of Ui Mhaine; Leabhar Breac; The Book of Clainn Suibhne; The Book of Dun Cow; Rawlinson B 502 [Lebar Glinne D  Locha]; The Book of Leinster; Annals Of Inisfallen; The Yellow Book of Lecan, The Book of Lecan, written in the reign of Ruaidri O Dubda (d.1417), king of Ui Fiachrach; The Book of Lecan [RIA MSS 535]; The Book of Ballymote [RIA MSS 536]; British Library Egerton 1782; Bodleian Laud Misc. 610; Saltair Chaisil; The Book of U¡ Maine; Book of Fermoy (RIA No. 1134); The Book of Lismore; The Book of Leinster [Lebar na Nuachongb la]; Dinnshenchas Erenn [in Book of Ballymote and Rennes Manuscript]; The Book of Lismore [Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach]; Leabhar Breac; An Leabhar Ruadh Muimhneach (lost); Leabhar Clainne Suibhne (RIA No. 475); Dubaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's Great Book of Genealogies (c.1650-64), preserved in UCD.

  • Irish Annals: Annals of Tighernach; Annals of Inisfallen; Annals of Loch Cé; Annals of Connacht [Ann la Connacht]; Chronicon Scotorum; Annals of Clonmacnoise.

  • Additional information (abstracted from Brian Cleeve & Ann Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers [rev. edn. in 1 vol.] (Dublin: Lilliput 1985): Book of Armagh, comp. Feardomhnach, a.d.807 [long called Can[c]in Phádraig]; The Book of Ballymote, comp. 1390; The Book of Duniry [Leabhar Breac], c.1400; The Book of Genealogies, mid. 17th c.; The Book of Invasions (survives in Book of Leinster); The Book of Lecan, c.1400; also Yellow Book of Lecan; The Book of Leinster [Lebar na Nuachonghb la], c.1150; [Book of Glendalough, here mistaken for Book of Leinster]; The Book of Rights [Leabhar na gCeart], comp. Benignus, c.450, enl. at Cashel, c.900; The Book of the Dun Cow [hUidre], c.1100, Clonmacnoise, contains 8th c. Irish; Liber Hymnorum, 9/10th. Further, Book of Rights [Leabhar na gCeart], supposed to have been compiled by Benignus, disciple of Patrick; describes political constitutions of Irish states as they existed in the 5th and 6th centuries; earliest of its kind in Europe; a copy incorporated in Saltair of Caisel [sic], a 10th c. manuscript collection; survives in early 15th-century Book of Lecan.

[ top ]

Catalogues of Irish MSS materials
[ Data here has been added to the original listing of Dec. 1997 by means of Internet search in Feb. 2024. ]
  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the British Museum, Vol. I, comp. by Standish H. O’Grady (1926); Vol. II, comp. by Robin Flower (also 1926); Vol. III, comp. by R. Flower, revised and passed through the press by Myles Dillon (1953). [See BL blog online; accessed 16.02.2024.]

  • Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, comp. by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott [1829-1913], and completed by E[dward] J. Gwynn (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co.; London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1921), 455pp. [Pref., signed E. Gwynn, p.[iv]-xx; Cat. comprising 1716 items commencing with The Book of Armagh, pp.1-329; Supplement / Addendum e Corrigenda, p.330ff.; Index of First Lines, p.369ff.; Gen. Index p.403ff.; available at Internet Archive - online; accessed 16.02.2024].

  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy Library, [1926-1943] - 17 fascicles [containing 1,400 items; see details].

  • Catalogue [... &c..] Index I [Vol. VII], compiled by Kathleen Mulchrone & Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, assisted by A. I. Pearson (Dublin: RIA / Hodges Figgis; London: Williams and Norgate 1948), pp.1-586; and Index II [Vol. VIII] compiled by Kathleen Mulchrone & Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (RIA / Hodges Figgis 1958), pp.587-1331. [Bound as Vols.  1-6; see also Index Tables of Manuscripts, 1940].

  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, ed. Nessa Ní Sheaghdha [in 13 fascs.] (DIAS 1967-91) E.g.: Fascicle I [MSS G1-14], ed. Ní Sheaghdha (DIAS 1967), 103pp.; Fasc. XIII [MSS G700-744], ed. Ní Sheaghdha & Pádraig Ó Macháin (DIAS 1991), 130pp. [See DIAS shop - online; accessed 16.02.2024].

  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Maynooth College Library, comp. by Rev. Paul Walsh (Maynooth: St. Patrick’s College 1927) [1 fasc.; only curtailed by death in 1941]; resumed in Irish by Pádraig Ó Fiannachta as Lámhscríbhinní Gaeilge Choláiste Phádraig Má Nuad[fascúl II, &c.] (Maynooth 1973).

  • At St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Rev. Paul Walsh, MRIA, initiated work on a catalogue of the Irish manuscript collections there. One fascicule was published in 1927 but the task was unfinished at his early death in 1941. Two decades later Rev. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, MRIA, took up the challenge and completed the project, in a different style, adhering more closely to the format of the RIA catalogues. Ó Fiannachta opted to write his catalogue entries in Irish rather than English.

  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in King’s Inns Library, Dublin, comp. by Padraig de Brun, 1972.Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in King’s Inns Library, Dublin, comp. by King’s Inns, Dublin, Library, 1972. Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in King’s Inns Library, Dublin, comp. by Pádraig De Brún, 1972.Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in King’s Inns Library, Dublin, comp. by Honourable Society of King’s Inns (Dublin). Library, 1972.Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in King’s Inns Library, Dublin. [Compiled by] Pádraig de Brún., comp. by Dublin, 1972.

  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, comp. by Cornelius G. Buttimer (1989).
  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Mount Melleray Abbey, Co. Waterford, by Pádraig Ó Macháin (1991).
  • A catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in Cardiff Public Library (Cardiff 1968).
  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Franciscan Library, Killiney, by Myles Dillon, Canice Mooney, Pádraig de Brún (1969).
  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Franciscan Library, Killiney, comp. by Myles Dillon (1969)
  • Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries, by Pádraig De Brún (1986).
  • Catalogue of Irish language Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford college libraries , by Brian Ó Cuív (2001) [Pt. 1: Descriptions (2001).
 
Bibliographical details
Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy Library, (1926-43) [28 fascicles with continuous pagination]: Record of National Library of Ireland: Fasc. I, ed. by Thomas F. O’Rahilly (1926); Fasc. II, ed. by K. Mulchrone (1928); Fasc. III, ed. by Mary E. Byrne (1928); Fasc. IV ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1929); Fasc. V, ed. by James H. Delargy & Kathleen Mulchrone (1930); Fasc. VI, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1931); Fasc. VII, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone & Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (q.d.); Fasc. VIIIed. by Lilian Duncan (1932); Fasc. IX, ed. by ElizabethFitzpatrick (1933); Fasc. X, ed. by Winifred Wulff & Kathleen Mulchrone (1933); Fasc. XI, ed. by Gerard Murphy (1933); Fasc. XII, ed. by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (1934); Fasc. XIII, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1934); Fasc. XIV, ed. by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (1935); Fasc. XV, ed. by ElizabethFitzpatrick); Fasc. XVI, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone); Fasc. XVII, ed. by Lilian Duncan (1935); Fasc. XVIII, ed. by Gerard Murphy & Winifred Wulff; Fasc. XIX, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1936); Fasc. XX, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1936); Fasc. XXIed. by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (1936); Fasc. XXII, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone; Fasc. XXIIIed. by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick and Kathleen Mulchrone (q.d.); Fasc. XXIV, ed. by Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (1938); Fasc. XXV, ed. by Gerard Murphy & Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (Dublin: Hodges Figgis 1940); Fasc. XXVIed. by Kathleen Mulchrone (1942); Fasc. XXVII, ed. by Kathleen Mulchrone and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (Hodges Figgis 1943). [Foregoing listed at \National Library of Ireland - online; accessed 16.02.2024. ] Additional Fascicle produced at DIAS: Fasc. XXVIII, by Tomás Ó Concheanainn,(1970), pp.3501–3792 [add. 69 MSS].
[ See RIA News article on the Catalogue of Irish MSS - online; accessed 16.02.2024.]
 
 
Do. - Record of National Library of Australia: - Fasc. 1 [MSS. G1-G14]; Fasc. 2 [MSS. G15-G69]; Fasc. 3 [MSS. G70-G114]; Fasc. 4 [MSS. G115-G160]; Fasc. 5 [MSS. G161-G207]; Fasc. 6. G208-G257]; Fasc. 7 [MSS. G258-G330]; Fasc. 8 [MSS. G331-G373]; Fasc. 9 [MSS. G374-G433]; Fasc. 10 [MSS. G434-G500]; Fasc. 11 [MSS. G501-G599]; Fasc. 12 [MSS. G600-G699]; Fasc. 13. G700-G773 Foregoing listed at National Library of Australia - online; accessed 16.02.2024] - ‘partial contents’.
 
See also Elizabeth FitzPatrick, The Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy: A Brief Introduction (Dublin 1988).

[ back ] [ top ]