Made in early 17th century England, this lady’s cap features a beautifully detailed botanical design. The scrolling gold-work design forms compartments containing strawberries, honeysuckle, cowslips, a foxglove-like flower and the distinctive spiked blue borage flower.

Can't catch a break in Ardstraw, Co. Tyrone. On the trail of more dead antiquarians in @nlireland.bsky.social ...

This beautiful bag dates from early 17th century England. These small bags, often called sweet bags, were filled with scented herbs. They could also have been used for small gifts or to hold alms.

I was reading Gulliver for the first time during the last referendum. Snorted on the luas at the part where politicians on one island said they were told to argue a point as passionately as possible but then vote the opposite way to be sure they would do the right thing.

Trash talk in 18th Ireland: "go you in you dirty creature".

I’m not financially qualified to give this advice but I think you should quit your job and just come read all day.

Leafleting, not canvassing. Since Pascal stepped down I've hopped up to every doorbell. I've spoken to Ó Ceannabháin, two Jehovah's Witnesses & a gas salesman. The 3 in hand were delivered tonight while I read in my front room. I saw Jack Chambers posing for a photo on my road but spoke to no one.

Very fun time on the Royal Canal meeting the local soprano pippistrelle bats!

when ur on a walk and there's a dog

Even while understanding library jargon, this is still a very funny note.

We love this colour version of the Three Candles Press printer's device. It is pasted onto an offprint of Séamus Ó Casaide MRIA's own copy of his paper, "An Old Almanac" from the Irish Book Lover (1933). The printer Colm Ó Lochlainn succeeded Ó Casaide as volunteer editor of the Irish Book Lover.

This is one of the best memes of all time.

Whether or not you filed your taxes yesterday, enjoy this postcard from playwright and activist (George) Bernard Shaw. Shaw sent this pre-printed postcards to people who reached out seeking charitable donations. Contact us to see more. Finding aid here: findingaids.bc.edu/repositories...

Mystery Bookplate! I’m trying without any luck to identify this bookplate after checking through printed sources and online databases, and would be grateful for any advice! 📖🔎

Excited to announce that my journal article on women printsellers in early nineteenth-century Dublin has been published in @eshsi.bsky.social It explores the gendered dynamics of the family print shop and how labour was divided in these domestic and commercial spaces.

Hurray bookplates!

Finally got into St Mary's Abbey. The phrase "hidden gem" might actually have some meaning in this case. An underground monastery felt very apt for this weekend.

B̶o̶o̶k̶b̶u̶y̶e̶r̶ Librarian. Preach 🙌

Come see our lovely books! This exhibition is so good! 📚 🥰

Am I a fairweather fan? Yes. Am I annoyed that fairer fairweather fans are slowing down RTÉ player by tuning in for extra time when I've been here since the beginning of this match? Yes. ☘️🦜

This was fascinating! I am working on provenance research at the moment and struggling because items that found their way into collections abroad are catalogued inaccurately. Former owners who would be well-known by Irish cataloguers don't ring bells for UK and American cataloguers!

Very reassuring to hear library leader Niamh Tumelty say she thinks the "bookless library" is unlikely to come to fruition. I love a digital resource at much as the next person, but this humble piece of technology changed the world as much as AI ever will, and I still love them too!!! #asl2025

good mornin’ 🌦️ it’s don lockwood’s lucky day 🍀

Two tickets have just become available for #ASL2026 happening next Tuesday in the @ria.ie! They're not likely to be around for long so get over to aslibraries.ie/asl-conferen... check out the amazing schedule and book your ticket now!

Some big ol' hand coloured railway survey maps today.... one simply coloured by county and one coloured by staff at the Geological Survey in 1877.

Luggala, good company and a thermos full of sausages: a happy St Patrick's Day!

How? It is just a boring book by a terrible person. I despair.

We were delighted to facilitate the loan of John Templeton MRIA's manuscript catalogue of native Irish plants to @ulstermuseum.org You can read more about the manuscript in our recent blog www.ria.ie/blog/the-cat... 🧵

Looking forward to speaking about Cardigans & Communications 🧶🤳

Compositors and printers, ahoy!

Sigh. Those who do not want to think for themselves will soon make it impossible for those of us who do.

"...bless the power of the sun, its conspiracy with the underground..." - The Seed, Paula Meehan.

What a gorgeous collection and an amazing journey it has been on! @ullibrary.bsky.social youtu.be/WUnBO7NfJz0?...

TCD Library is recruiting a Senior Bibliographer to help catalogue the Fagel Collection! This is a fabulous professional opportunity to work on one of Europe's great early modern private libraries. Closing 10 March at noon. Full details available at www.tcd.ie/hr/vacancies

The succession of the Roman Catholic bishops of Cloyne and Ross was not thrilling enough to take Miss Bourke off this dreamy annotator's mind... @nlireland.bsky.social is still as romantic as ever 🥰

Bluesky debut for the most clever thing I ever thought of, and which I now share every year on #PancakeDay.

The Worth Library's Research Fellowships for 2026 have just been advertised. Find out more at edwardworthlibrary.ie/research-fel... Please repost! @bodleian.ox.ac.uk @cerl-community.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social @harvard.edu

Best pen trial ever. ‘Kiss my Arse’ On the endpapers of an 1700 edition of Terence’s comediae sex. #bookhistory #provenance

There is a wonderful exhibition on at Farmleigh at the moment until March - now is your chance to hear from the curator! All welcome to attend the lecture, not just LAI members! @marshslibrary.bsky.social AND a cataloguing course for rare books later in the month!

Had a lovely evening at this launch of this book last night! Jacobites, prison escapes, and kidnapped princesses - what's not to love?

For the weekend that's in it, why not read a Life of St Brigid, or, Betha Brigte. An Leabhar Breac (RIA MS 23 P 16) contains a copy of the Life on starting on p. 61. You can see the "incipit" (Latin for "beginning") outlined in red pigment here, with Brigte spilling over from one line onto another.

The Manuscript of the Week is RIA MS B ii 1, Astronomical tract. It is based on a medieval Latin version of a work by Messahalah, a Jew of Alexandria who wrote in Arabic c. 815. The frontispiece is an astronomical rotula with a moveable index attached, illuminated with red and yellow pigment...

Hello Bluesky!

Did you know that Burns Library holds a collection of photographs and albums belonging to Irish activist, printer, and camogie player Máire Gill? They live in our Loretta Clarke Murray Collection and we’ve just digitized them! https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/254/digitized

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

Irish manuscripts and book conservators getting a two-page spread in @irishtimes.com 🙌 Up with that sort of thing!

27th December is the feast of St John Apostle and Evangelist who is depicted here. #StJohn Trinity College Dublin, IE TCD MS 60; Book of Mulling (Irish picket gospel book); between c.750 CE-799 CE; Tech-Moling, County Carlow, Ireland; ff.81v-82r @tcdlibrary.bsky.social

A Christmas miracle! I have tracked down a copy of Battersby's auction catalogue for the Earl of Leitrim's library, which I will visit in @nlireland.bsky.social next year. Sometimes all you need for Christmas is to know if a particular dead guy once owned and annotated the book you are holding.

The MS of the week is RIA MS D ii 1, the Book of Uí Mhaine. This late 14th century manuscript contains a late Middle Irish versified form of the 17 Wonders of the Night of Christ’s Birth. This apocryphal tradition includes miracles such as fruiting vines in the middle of winter🍇