History of Irish Bookbinding

rom earliest times, world famous manuscripts were produced in Ireland. Early Christian volumes of great quality, of which only a fraction survived, and practically none in their original bindings. Several boxes, or book shrines such as the cathach and the soiscel molaise still survive.

Irish bookbinding came into it's own in the early 18th century. Many examples of the 'Dublin' school of bookbinding exist in Trinity College, Archbishop Marsh's Library and the Royal Irish Academy. Many of the bookbinders remain anonymous, known only as Parliamentary Binder A., Parliamentary Binder B., etc., (eg. 'The Book of Common Prayer', John Baskerville, 1760, by the Parliamentary Binder B' - Library of Trinity College).

Well-known bookbinders of this era include William Hallhead of 63 Dame Street and William McKenzie. Abraham Bradley King was the Parliamentary Binder of the late 1790's responsible for the journals of the House of Lords 1793.

Probably the best known Dublin Binder was George Mullins whose work dates from the early 1800's. An example of his work and the "Dublin School Style" is 'Memoirs of the Irish Wars' by the Earl of Castlehaven, Dublin, bound by Mullin in 1815.

The firm of Joseph Leathley accounted for the largest body of binding commissioned by Trinity College, Dublin. During this period the finishing style (gold embossing) can be traced through the range of finishing tools used by the binders.