An Irish Library and a European Tour, 1815-1817

The manuscript catalog for the library of Quinville Abbey, County Clare, Ireland, is bound with the manuscript travel journal kept by John Singleton (ca. 1793-1877) of his European tour, 1815-17. In Singleton's journal are at least 85 quotations or citations from 52 titles and 40 authors listed in the Quinville Abbey library catalog of 621 titles. Works from the library by Byron, John Chetwode Eustace, Milton, Rousseau, Madame de Staël, Virgil, and four Oxford poets were important in shaping both the tour itself and the record preserved of it in the journal. Singleton's library catalog and his travel journal are unique in two ways. Of the 199 private libraries in Ireland whose catalogs survive from the period 1750-1850, detailed evidence of use exists only for Singleton. Of the many European tours from the period for which journals survive, Singleton's is the only one directly reflecting an identified library catalog.