Dublin City Library & Archive

We all have our favourite books from childhood: fairy tales, Alice in wonderland, Paddington bear, Where the wild things are, The railway children, Matilda, The secret garden, The wind in the willows, Gulliver’s travels and Robinson Crusoe. These books affected us profoundly and maybe even changed our lives. But suppose we grew up in the 18th century, what could we have read? We would have had Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Gulliver’s travels (1726), in versions specially geared towards children, with simplified language and pictures. Fairy tales excited and terrified children then as now, and created fantasy worlds that adults did not always approve of. Read more »

Contemporary with the time-period covered by Anne Plumptre’s ‘Narrative of a Residence in Ireland’ (1814-15), available in a three volume set in the Special Collections of the Dublin and Local Studies Collection, was the Congress of Vienna, a Pan-European meeting of nations to try to undo some of the political damage caused by the Napoleonic Era. Ms. Read more »

This advertising sheet from the publishers Maunsel and Company, Abbey Street, Dublin, announces the imminent publication of James Joyce’s collection of short stories Dubliners. The collection was due for publication on 24 November 1910 at a cost of 3s.6d. Read more »

Mid October 1962: the crisis began on 14 October when photographs of Soviet military installations in Cuba, taken by a U2 spy plane from the United States air force, showed that nuclear missile sites were being constructed. The United States government demanded that the missiles be withdrawn, and they put in place a naval blockade of Cuba with the intention of preventing any further military equipment being delivered. The crisis came to a head when a Soviet convoy approached some of the blockading ships. However at the last minute the Soviet ships halted and after a tense stand-off they eventually turned around. Read more »

I woke last Tuesday morning to the terrible news that my beloved city of Lisbon had been devastated by a natural disaster. The news crier in the street had the breaking news as a Portuguese ship had docked in the night. A massive earthquake shook the city; it was followed by a tidal wave which swept all before it. The tremors were followed by a series of fires which lasted most of the week and gutted the city. The ship coming from Porto had the news and it is believed that thousands have been killed. The captain and some of the officers have been in Dick’s Coffee House and the Globe telling their story to all interested customers; never have the Dublin coffee houses been so busy. Since then further reports have been coming in via London and Paris. Read more »

The most exciting new attraction in Dublin is the Botanic Gardens. The gardens are situated in the northern suburbs of the city at Glasnevin, a pleasant carriage ride from town for a day’s excursion. After long years of campaigning the Dublin Society has achieved its goal of establishing this public garden to show off the best in new horticultural and agricultural practices.  Lord Charlemont has always been very generous in allowing the public to stroll on his estate at Marino, and I have done so many times. But it’s wonderful to have a place which belongs to us all where we can walk any day of the week and learn new things every time. Read more »