NEWS Number 19: Spring 2005
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NEWS Number 19: Spring 2005 During his lifetime, Dr Jasper Robert Joly (1819-1892), a Dublin barrister and one- time Vicar General of the Diocese of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, amassed a magnificent library, principally of Irish material, including rare books and pamphlets, maps, music, topographical prints and some important manuscripts. When he donated his library to the Royal Dublin Society in 1863, it was with the proviso that “if…a public library should be established in Dublin under the authority of Parliament…analogous to the library of the British Museum in London…it shall be lawful for the said Society to transfer the collection to the trustees of such public library.” Joly's collection of 25,000 volumes was transferred to the National Library of Ireland, when it was formally established in 1877. Among his books were first editions of many 17th century Irish authors, a number of incunabula, French works from the Napoleonic Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann period and more than 700 volumes of sheet music. Today, the Prints and Drawings Department houses three quarters of the Library’s entire National Library of Ireland collection of Joly materials including 70,000 individual prints, several thousand albums and extensive holdings of drawings and watercolours. This work dated 1791, and entitled Arrestation du Roi et sa famille desertant du Royaume, is one of a large number of historical scenes, cartoons and caricatures relating NUACHT to the French Revolution which were acquired with the Joly Library. The Library’s café, the Joly Tearoom, which opened in Kildare Street in June 2004, is named after this key benefactor. National Library Events Lunchtime theatre at the Library Celebrating James Joyce’s birthday At lunchtime each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (from week Wednesday 2 February 2005 marked the 123rd anniversary of the birth of James beginning 11 April to week ending 22 April) the Library’s Seminar Room will play Joyce and the anniversary of the first publication in 1922 of his masterpiece, host to a series of performances by the Dublin Lyric Players of WB Yeats’s plays Ulysses. – The Dreaming of the Bones and At the Hawk’s Well. On 2 February last, cultural attachés and other representatives from a number of The Dublin Lyric Players derives its name from the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast, embassies in Ireland joined Library staff and other guests for a specially devised whose foundation stone was laid by the poet Austin Clarke. During the first thirty programme to celebrate these two anniversaries. years of their existence, the Belfast-based Lyric Players championed the cause of The programme for the evening included a reception followed by a multimedia Yeats’s plays, putting on many of his works including the Cuchulain Cycle, presentation entitled The Birthday Book: Publishing Ulysses, 2 February which they performed at the official opening of the purpose-built Poets’ Theatre in 1922, and a curator’s tour of the Joyce exhibition, guided by the Library’s James 1968. Joyce Research Fellow, Dr Luca Crispi. The Dublin Lyric Players’ forthcoming series of productions at the National Library’s Seminar Room will be directed by Conor O’Malley. Over the past 30 years, he has directed a number of plays by Yeats including the Cuchulain Cycle. Pictured at the reception were from left: Dr Tony Scott, Chairman of the Trustees of the National Library of Ireland; Winni Fejne, Minister, Embassy of Sweden; Philomena Murnaghan, Counsellor, Cultural Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Dr Luca Crispi, James Joyce Research Fellow, National Library of Ireland. Pictured at rehearsals for the forthcoming series are from left: Alan Carey, Anna O’Malley, Geraldine Maguire, Margaret Toomey and Conor O’Malley. Ireland Literature Exchange The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue, TD was guest of honour at a reception held in the Library on 1 February last to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Ireland Literature Exchange. Aongus Ó hAonghusa, Director, National Library of Ireland and Wolfgang Wiethoff, Counsellor for Politics and Cultural Affairs, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Photographed at the Ireland Literature Exchange Reception were John O’Donoghue, Ida Delamer, National Library of Ireland Trustee, and Peter Mikel, Embassy of TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism; Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director, Ireland Austria, pictured at the James Joyce celebrations event in the Library. Literature Exchange and writer Anne Enright. Profile: Dr Tony Scott Chairman of the Council of Trustees of the National Library of Ireland 1994 to 2005 The National Library of Ireland owes a great debt to Dr Tony Scott for his immense The collections, both literary and visual, held by the Library trace the contribution during his tenure as Chairman of the Council of Trustees. For more development of Irish life in all its aspects, Dr Scott adds. “It could very easily than ten years, he has been a guiding force behind the Library and has overseen slip away from this country, but, thankfully, it is readily available to everybody many important developments, not least the progress of the biggest building – scholars and lay people alike. In an increasing number of cases, Library archive development of this institution since the opening of the Kildare Street building in material may be accessed online, which makes it available to many from right 1890, and an enormously successful acquisitions programme, the high point of around Ireland and abroad, and is a most welcome development. Of course, none which for him was the purchase of a large collection of previously unknown Joyce of this would have been possible without the active involvement of a committed material in 2002. staff. I have always been struck by the number of occasions on which members of the public have commented to me on the outstanding quality of the Library’s Three years after that event, the Library is about to enter a new era, with staff. They are just superb; unsung heroes, really.” significant changes in its corporate governance and administration ensuing from its establishment as an independent cultural institution. The present Council of Trustees will be replaced by a new board, details of which will be announced shortly by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O’Donoghue, TD. Over a period of 16 years (first as a member of the Council of Trustees and later as its Chairman), Dr Scott has combined his deep commitment to the Library with a number of other voluntary and professional roles: lecturer in the Physics Department of University College Dublin; Head of Public Affairs, UCD – a post he held for 15 years; co-founder of the Young Scientist competition, for which, 41 years on, he still acts as a judge; he also serves on the panel of judges for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is held in the United States each year. He is currently Honorary Treasurer of the Institute of Physics, an international learned society and professional body with over 37,000 members. More recently, he has joined the Board of the National Gallery. He has also been appointed Vice-President of the Royal Dublin Society, and is a member of its Council. Among a wide range of hobbies, he takes a keen interest in music, and he is a long-time supporter of the UCD soccer team, which he notes is now back in the Premier Division. With so many demands on his time, it is remarkable that he has consistently contributed so substantially to the Library’s governance and policy making. Part of the motivation for doing so may be attributed to his lifelong interest in reading and collecting books; his involvement in scientific publishing over many decades, and his keen appreciation of the way in which the Library has increased his awareness of Ireland’s cultural heritage. As he describes it: “It’s only when you get involved with the Library, and you see the storehouse of knowledge and material contained there, that you realise what a cultural background Ireland has. Not only has my involvement with the Library broadened my outlook it has also made me aware of the importance of what we hold, and the need to preserve it at all costs.” Edmund Dwyer Gray Album One of the Library’s most recent acquisitions is an album of letters and newspaper husband’s death. They include letters from Parnell, Justin McCarthy, William cuttings about a largely forgotten figure in modern Irish history, Edmund Dwyer O’Brien, Timothy Harrington, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy and Lord Aberdeen. Gray, who was a Home Rule MP from 1877 to 1888 and the proprietor of Dublin’s In addition to the letters, the album has many pages of cuttings from Irish and Freeman’s Journal. British newspapers over the period 28 March to 7 April 1888. These refer to Gray’s But for the advent of Charles Stewart Parnell, Gray might have led the Irish party death and funeral, and contain extensive accounts of his career. Of special interest at Westminster. Initially opposed to Parnell, he reluctantly accepted his leadership are copies of memorial cartoons published in the Weekly Freeman and in after Parnell launched the weekly United Ireland newspaper in 1881. Gray’s fear United Ireland – in both cases on 7 April. that United Ireland would be turned into a daily paper to rival the Freeman’s Also included are cuttings about Gray’s term as Lord Mayor of Dublin – mostly Journal brought him into line behind Parnell. reports of social gatherings at the Mansion House – and a cutting from the Apart from the Freeman’s Journal – which prospered under his management Illustrated London News of 15 April 1854 relating to Mrs Gray’s mother, – Gray’s business interests included the nascent Telephone Company of Ireland Caroline Chisholm, together with a letter dated 17 August 1852 to Mrs Chisholm and the Belfast-based about her Family Colonisation Society.