Description
The Linen Hall Library, Published 1990. Hardcover, x, 261 pp.; 25 cm; illustrated with black-and-white photographs, portraits, engravings and facsimiles.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
112
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In Very Good condition with a Very Good dust jacket. Gray cloth boards with gilt lettering and library monogram on spine; mild shelf and edge wear. Black endpapers. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Illustrated dust jacket with a bird's-eye view of the White Linen Hall and Donegall Place, signed in the image by Stephen Conlin; author's photograph on rear flap. Light bumping and creasing to edges and corners, a few tiny nicks to edges, mild shelf and edge wear. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Bicentenary history of the Linen Hall Library, founded in 1788 as the Belfast Reading Society and still governed by its successor, the Belfast Society for Promoting Knowledge. The library is the oldest in Belfast and the last subscription library in Northern Ireland. Written by the library's deputy librarian from the society's minutes and committee records, with oral-history interviews, it follows the institution from its radical eighteenth-century origins and the White Linen Hall years through postwar decline and the 1980s revival. Later chapters cover the collections (including the Belfast printed book collection, early newspapers from 1738 and the Northern Ireland Political Collection of Troubles ephemera begun in 1968), the library's role in preserving traditional Irish harp music, and biographical chapters on its presidents and librarians. An appendix gives membership, income and book issues from 1809 to 1988. Printed by W. & G. Baird at the Greystone Press, Antrim. Contents: Introduction; The Foundation of the Society, 1788-1802; The Museum, 1792-1833; The White Linen Hall, 1802-88; New Premises and Consolidation, 1888-1945; Decline, 1945-80; Resurgence, 1980-88; The Collections; The Preservation of the Traditional Music of Ireland; The Presidents, 1791-1990; The Librarians, 1792-1990; Appendix: Membership, Income, Expenditure and Book Issues, 1809-1988; References; Bibliography; Index