Books and Builders: A Bibliographical Approach to Irish Eighteenth-Century Architecture

This study is an attempt to construct the bibliographical dimension of Irish eighteenth-century architectural history. Irish newspapers of the period have been combed for publication notices and subscription proposals and a representative cross-section of contemporary book catalogues has been sifted for architectural titles. The combination of these methods serves to give a general picture of the literature being collected by Irish library owners and that which was being sold by the book trade. Another avenue of approach has been the analysis of Irish manuscript materials which display a clear reliance upon published architectural works. Several curious manuscript volumes compiled in Ireland during the course of the eighteenth century vividly illustrate the usage of architectural books and prints both by amateurs and professional architects. Having established the type of literature which was published in Ireland and that which was in general circulation, it was then requisite to consider the individuals who bought, sold, wrote, read or perused architectural publications. Given the preliminary state of Irish biographical studies, lengthy research was necessary to determine the identity and position of many lesser figures in the contemporary building world who were associated in a variety of ways with architectural literature. This study contributes to Irish eighteenth-century historical bibliography firstly by constructing a bibliography of the architectural literature which was published in Ireland during the period and where possible establishing a current location for each recorded title. Secondly it presents a survey of the architectural titles which were prevalent in Irish eighteenth-century libraries. The first and most striking feature of the Irish literature is its overwhelmingly utilitarian and technical bent. The majority of titles listed in appendix 1 are pamphlets written by architects, engineers or politicians in support of or in opposition to canal, road or bridge building projects. A second prominent characteristic of the Irish literature is its precocity. Many of the projects considered in this study both published and unpublished, were quite remarkable ventures for their date.