Facing the red & black title page of 'Practica Visitandi Infirmos' printed in 1640 is the mark of the book's printer, Giacomo Gaffari. It told readers they could buy his books in under the sign of the bull #TitlePageTuesday #Printers

An early reader added a lovely gloved manicule, or pointing finger, to Sebastian Münster's 1554 Cosmography at the section on Ireland, described as a fertile land with a pleasant climate. He's not quite so complimentary about the people tho'.

Thank you to all 561 visitors who braved the rain and joined us for #CultureNight last night! What a fantastic evening! A special thanks to all our staff and volunteers who kept the show running and did a great job!

Less than two hours until we kick off our Culture Night 2025 tours! Join us for a free guided tour of Ireland's oldest public library this evening from 5.45pm to 8.45pm. No booking necessary; first come, first served!

Yesterday was our first Manuscript Studies Interest Group of the year! 10 astronomical manuscripts from Penn's collection and a dozen attendees. We made volvelles using a plan from @marshslibrary.bsky.social. No photos of the event, but here's a link to a booklist: drive.google.com/file/d/1wzDx...

National Ploughing Championships, 16th century style! From Sebastian Munster's 'Cosmographiae Universalis', printed in 1554.

Come join us for Culture Night 2025 on Friday 19th September! Guided tours every 30 minutes from 5:45pm to 8:45pm, no booking required! Check out the programme for more fun things to do around the city: culturenight.ie/event/cultur...

The decorative fish add a bit of whimsy to our 15th century manuscript on canon and civil law! #Medieval #Manuscripts

In 'Chorea Gigantum' (1663), Walter Charleton claimed Stonehenge was built by the Danes as a place to crown their monarchs. Of course we now know it is prehistoric megalithic monument where the demons dwell & the banshees live #Stonehenge #SpinalTap

Hmm, looks like a fun party! A meeting of Johannes Hevelius, Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe & other great astronomers, with the muse of astronomy Urania in the centre. From Hevelius' star catalogue Prodromus Astronomiae, completed & published by Hevelius' assistant & wife, Elisabeth.

My team will be talking about Narcissus Marsh and how medieval manuscripts ended up among the “best and most useful books for each faculty and science” in his public library for Dublin. @marshslibrary.bsky.social #BuiltWithBooks Oh and we also have a mummy and some pirates 🏴‍☠️

Is it us or does this image give you #TraitorsIreland vibe? So who is to be murdered next? Trust no-one. We're gripped #rte!

Look at the reflection of the gold on this 13th-century Bible ... There are lots of VERY beautiful images from the exhibition of our medieval manuscripts currently being prepared for 2026 by Prof Laura Cleaver and Dr Danielle Magnusson.

We have added a leaflet in Japanese to our growing list of online introductions to the library. It saves on paper!! Many thanks to William McIntyre for the translation: marshlibrary.ie/experience/j...

After the warm summer we've had the blackberries must be plump and ready for devouring! These hand-coloured beauties are from Hieronymus Bock's 1552 herbal #Blackberries #Autumn

In our latest blog post, recent McCarthy fellow, Dr Angela Byrne explores the poetry albums of Alicia Wilmot (c.1776–1860) & her sister-in-law, Eliza Wilmot (née Chetwood, b.1771), two women at the heart of a literary circle in Cork. marshlibrary.ie/lives-in-ver...

A virtual #manicule to this amazing painting by Sarosky & Dublin Canvas. They have transformed a dull electrical box into a bright celebration of #JonathanSwift and his #GulliversTravels, and there is the Marsh's stamp too! Not to be missed at the top of St. Patrick's Park.

A map from 1754 of 'Naboth's Vineyard', Jonathan Swift's garden just south of Marsh's Library where he kept horses and grew exotic fruit like peaches and nectarines!

Excited to have Pádraig O'Macháin & Anna Hoffmann from UCC & the McCarthy MSI project (incorporating Inks & Skins) in Marsh's working on on our manuscripts. The inks in our 14th century Processional are still looking very vibrant!

Trying & failingng to decipher the signature on this letter sent to our first librarian, Elie Bouhéreau, from Salles, around 1674. Bores, Bonas? Any other ideas?

#StPatricksCathedralDublin & Marsh's Library were delighted to welcome a group of #HeritageWeek2025 visitors for our first #Huguenot tour today. We ended with a look at our first librarian Élie Bouhéreau's diary and accounts, with the page recording his wife's death.

Hollyhock in the garden this morning & on the pages of Hieronymus Bock's Herbal, printed 473 years ago & coloured by hand.

Some might say we’ve been an Oasis in the city for book lovers for more than 300 years. Definitely, Maybe come visit today!

My one of these is very sluggish on this sunny Friday afternoon. Thomas Willis' cross section of the brain from 1667.

Public shaming & scandalous suggestions (in verse!) about a woman in The Dublin Journal for 24th October 1741. Things never change!

Printing is really difficult, example 758: the printer put the page number 37 upside down & in the wrong order. From Dellon's 'A Voyage to the East Indies', 1698.

Recommended. This very interesting piece about the great Daniel O'Connell has just appeared in the Dublin Review of Books: drb.ie/prophet-of-a...

In the History of Ethiopia (1681), Hiob Ludolf claimed that elephants would shake trees until their trunks broke off or the tree came up, roots and all! #WorldElephantDay

In our latest #blog post, Dr Renée A. Fox @cookiegoth.bsky.social explores the media response to the genre-defying work of Irish novelist & poet Emily Lawless (1845-1913) and finds herself mesmerized by the author's final poem marshlibrary.ie/emily-lawles...

Lovely ties on the fore-edge of 'Historia de la conquista de Mexico', 1771 #Binding

We aim to please! Happy our visitors notice all the little details!

Hard at work (well, some of them at least) in the fruit and kitchen gardens, from the 'Compleat gard'ner, or, cultivating and ordering of fruit-gardens and kitchen-gardens', printed in 1693.

Vandalism! At some stage in its nearly 500 year history, someone cut out the printer's ornament from the title page of our 1544 copy of Aesop's Fables.

This reader's manicule, or pointing finger, looks more like a retractable blade! From 'The letters of St Jerome, printed 535 years ago in Venice #Incunable #Readers #Manicules

Lovely marbled edges on these three late 17th century volumes, all printed in London.

Long before googling symptoms was a thing there was the self-diagnosis diagram! From 'The Oracle for the Sick', 1685.

Peekaboo! A grumpy face peeking out from the initial M of this very rare York Missal, likely printed in Rouen in 1530

Some of the small (and not the easiest to read) Hebrew books that Dr Sarah Cusk from Lincoln College Oxford has been looking at this week as part of her Maddock Fellowship to examine the bindings on our founder Narcissus Marsh's books.

We are among the top 10% of things to do worldwide. Thanks for our award #Tripadvisor and thanks to one of our visitors for the inspirational quote!🥰 #ThingsToDoInDublin #VisitDublin #LibrariesOfTheWorld #Books

Our 1628 edition of the works of Livy belonged to playwright Ben Jonson (1572-1637), who wrote his motto Tanquam exploratur ('like an explorer') in the top right corner #TitlePageTuesday #Readers

A manicule to point out this section is important & bonus eye to indicate that is what the remedy is for! From Ramon Llull's 'Libelli aliquot chemici', 1572 #readers #alchemy

An early reader left a heart emoji in Johannes Nider's commentaries printed in Paris 543 years ago #EmojiDay

Wild strawberries on a beautiful summer's day! From Hieronymus Bock's 1552 herbal.

Joyeux 14 juillet à tous et à toutes! This hand-coloured map of France is from Blaeu's magnificent 11-volume Atlas Maior, printed in Amsterdam 1662-5 #BastilleDay #14juillet

"Not many people know that" ... We have an extensive archive of material relating to the O'Connells of Derrynane and the great Liberator himself, Daniel O'Connell.

Polymath Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) would try his hand at anything & even claimed to have deciphered hieroglyphs long before the Rosetta Stone! From Sphinx Mystagoge, Kircher's last work on Egyptology, printed in 1676.

A celebration of chocolate from 1662 #WorldChocolateDay

A nice find by @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social : this well used copy of Cordier's Latin dialogues was inscribed and doodled on by Élie and Amateur, sons of our first librarian, Élie Bouhéreau (1643-1719) #Readers

A sunny binding for a sunny day! Detail from a Dublin binding on The Gentleman & Citizen's Almanack, printed in 1795.

Can anyone suggest the meaning of the initials at the end of this note, referring to Mr de Majendie? It's in the hand of Élie Bouhéreau (1643-1719) our first librarian, and is inside a letter he received from Majendie in 1663 #Huguenot #Letters #Patrimoine