Irish Studies at the Hesburgh Library

We plan to share a tune from the O’Neill Collection (the library of Captain Francis O’Neill) each week this semester. If you wish to share a recording of yourself playing this tune, please tag it on social media with #ONeillTunes.

Week 1 

Grace Nugent, in Edward Bunting’s A General of the Ancient Irish Music. Circa 1800. Link to digital image: https://marble.nd.edu/item/000297305

Watch this space for next week’s tune!

Scholarship on Joyce is continually added to the library shelves, both the virtual shelves and the physical shelves.

Here are some of the recently-added titles:

Platt, Len. James Joyce and Education : Schooling and the Social Imaginary in the Modernist Novel, London: Routledge, 2021.

Conley, Tim. The Varieties of Joycean Experience. Anthem Press, 2021.

MacDuff, Sangam. Panepiphanal World: James Joyce’s Epiphanies. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020.

James Joyce and the Arts, edited by Emma-Louise Silva, Sam Slote and Dirk van Hulle. Leiden: Brill Rodopi, 2020.

Flack, Leah Culligan. James Joyce and Classical Modernism. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020.

Mayo, Michael. James Joyce and the Jesuits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Smyth, Gerry. Music and Sound in the Life and Literature of James Joyce: Joyce’s Noyces. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.

McMorran, Ciaran. Joyce and Geometry. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020.

Jaurretche, Colleen. Language as Prayer in Finnegans Wake. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2020.

Retranslating Joyce for the 21st Century, edited by Jolanta W. Wasrzycka and Erika Mihálycsa. Leiden: Brill/Rodopi, 2020.

These, and many more books, can be found by searching our catalog, at library.nd.edu.

Mindful that this week’s Rare Books and Special Collections blogpost would go out on St. Brigid’s Day, we published a picture from an early twentieth-century children’s book, An Alphabet of Irish Saints.

This morning’s flurry of social media activity, including pictures and accounts of blankets and clothes put out overnight, and photographs of crosses like the cross above, reminds me of an inquiry we received a few years ago about our Radharc video collection.

Does anybody remember the Radharc films on RTÉ television? The Radharc Trust website provides a history, and some digital film and images may be found on websites of RTÉ and of the IFI.

Among our DVDs of Radharc films is a very short documentary describing St. Brigid’s eve in a Co. Donegal household. Our correspondent who emailed from England turned out to be a member of the family featured in the film, and she was interested in obtaining a transcript. She added that her family had moved to Scotland, where the Edinburgh neighbors thought their annual observances of St. Brigid’s Day were quite unusual.

Now, as it happened, my colleague Gráinne Ní Mhuirí, who was a visiting Fulbright Irish language teacher, had used the film in her Irish class, and between us, we had transcribed the text and provided a rough translation, so we had the transcript on file.

The film begins with the Duffy men and boys outside, making preparations, while the women work indoors, and takes us through all the events of the eve of St. Brigid’s Day in the Duffy home.

The film is found in our catalog as Bridgid’s Night, with the information that it was filmed in Co. Donegal in 1961.

To learn more about our video collections, see our library guide to Ireland on Film.

The Irish Fiction Collection is a very large collection of novels by Irish authors, set in Ireland, or with a significant Irish connection. It has its nucleus in the Loeber Collection of Irish Fiction, and it includes over 4,000 volumes.  Books from the collection are available for reading in the Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room.

Novels set during the Northern Ireland Conflict form a sub-collection. In building this collection, we acknowledge the work of Bill Rolston, whose bibliography, Literature of the ‘Troubles’: Novels was an invaluable reference.

The novels are listed below. * denotes novels that may be found in the circulating collections and borrowed.

Fiction and the Conflict in Northern Ireland – List of Titles in the Irish Fiction Collection.

Aalben, Patrick. The Grab. London: Robert Hale, 1977.
Adams, James. Taking the Tunnel. London: Michael Joseph, 1993.
Adams, Patrick. Everything can be O.K. Los Angeles: Amber International, 1979.
Anderson, Don. Heatshield. London: Pan, 1990.
Anderson, Linda. To Stay Alive. London: Bodley Head, 1984.
Anderson, Linda. Cuckoo. London: Bodley Head, 1986.*Anthony, Evelyn. A Place to Hide. New York: Putnam, 1987.
Anthony, Paul. The Fragile Peace. London: Janus, 1996.*
Armstrong, Campbell. Jig. London: Allison & Busby, 2007.
Ashe, Alex. An Acceptable Level of Violence. Gamlingay, Bedfordshire: Authors OnLine, 2008.
Atwater, James D. Time Bomb. New York: Viking, 1977.
Aylott, Bob. Cry for Tomorrow. London: Everest, 1973.

Baker, Keith. Inheritance.*
Ball, Brian. Keegan: The No-Option Contract. London: Barker, 1975.
Ballinger, W. A. The Green Grassy Slopes. London: Corgi, 1969.
Banks, Lynn Reid. Maura’s Angel. New York: Avon, 1998.
Barlow, James. Both Your Houses: A Novel. London: Hamilton, 1971.
Barton, Harry. Yours Again, Mr. Mooney. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1974.
Bateman, Colin. Belfast Confidential. London: Headline, 2005*
Bateman, Colin. Divorcing Jack. New York: Arcade, c.1995.*
Bateman, Colin. Empire State. London: HarperCollins, 1998.*
Bateman, Colin. I Predict a Riot. London: Headline, 2007.*
Bateman, Colin. Cycle of Violence. New York: Arcadia, 1996.*
Bateman, Colin. Maid of the Mist. London: HarperCollins, 1999.*
Bateman, Colin. Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men. New York: Arcade, 1997.*
Bateman, Colin. The Day of the Jack Russell. London: Headline, 2010.
Beattie, Geoffrey. The Corner Boys. London: Gollancz, 1998.
Beckett, Mary. Give Them Stones. New York: Harper &Row, c. 1989.
Bennett, Colin. The Entertainment Bomb. London: New Futurist, 1996.
Bennett, Ronan. The Second Prison. London: Review, 2000.
Binchy, Dan. The Neon Madonna. London: Century, 1991.*
Binnie, Stewart. Across the Water. London: Secker & Warburgh, 1979.
Blain, Sean Martin. The Java Man. London: Michael Joseph, 1995.
Blair, Iain. Hooligan’s Rant. London: New English Library, 1979.
Blake, Philippa. Looking Out. London: Bodley Head, 1989.
Bradby, Tom. Shadow Dancer. New York: Bantam, 1998.
Braddon, Russell. The Progress of Private Lilyworth. London: Joseph, 1971.
Bradford, Roy. The Last Ditch. Belfast: Blackstaff, c. 1981.
Brady, John. A Stone of the Heart. Toronto: Collins, 1989.
Brady, John. Kaddish in Dublin. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Brady, John. Unholy Ground. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Breasted, Mary. Why Should You Doubt Me? New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1993.*
Breslin, Jimmy. World Without End, Amen. New York: Viking, 1973.*
Brewster, David. The Heart’s Grown Brutal. London: Angus & Robertson, 1972.
Bringle, Mary. The Man in the Moss-Colored Trousers. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986.
Broderick, John. The Fugitives. New York: Obolensky, 1962.*
Brown, George. Ringmain. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1991.
Broxon, Mildred Downey. Too Long a Sacrifice. New York: Dell, 1981.
Bullen, Fiona. From Pillar to Post. London: Warner, 1998.
Bunting, Eve. Walking to School.  New York: Clarion, 2008.
Burns, Anna. No Bones. New York: Norton, 2002.
Burns, Richard. Why Diamond Had to Die. London: Bloomsbury, 1989.
Burton, Anthony. The Coventry Option. London: Unwin Hyman, 1987.*
Byrne, Robert. The Tunnel. New York: Harcourt Brace, c. 1977.
Caldwell, Lucy. All the Beggars Riding. London: Faber, 2013.

Caldwell, Lucy. Where They were Missed. NY: Viking, 2006.*
Cannon, Elliott. Stand By to Shoot. London: Hale, 1973.
Carrick, James. With O’Leary in the Grave. London: Heinemann, 1971.*
Carroll, James. Madonna Red. Boston: Little, Brown, c. 1976.*
Carter, Peter. Under Goliath. Oxford: OUP, 1977.
Case, James. Belfast Blitz. New York: Warner, c. 1987.
Casey, Kevin. Dreams of Revenge. London: Faber, 1977.
Cawley, Robert. Shockwave. London: Sphere, 1979.
Cazenave, Michel. Les Fusils de l’IRA. Paris: L’Herne, c. 1977.
Chaplin, Michael. Act of Betrayal. London: Corgi, 1988.
Chapman, John. City War. London: Hale, 1979.
Charles, Robert. The Hour of the Wolf. London: R. Hale, 1974.
Chipperfield, Joseph E.  The Watcher on the Hills. London: Heinemann, 1968.
Clancy, Ambrose. Blind Pilot. New York: W. Morrow, 1980.
Clancy, Tom. Patriot Games. New York: Berkley, c. 1987.
Clarke, Shaun. Red Hand. London: Coronet, 1998.
Clarke, Shaun. Soldier E: SAS: Sniper Fire in Belfast. Maidstone: 22 Books, 1993.
Cleary, Jon. Peter’s Pence. New York: Morrow, c. 1974.
Clifford, Francis. Drummer in the Dark. New York: Harcourt, Brace, c. 1976.
Cole, John. A Clouded Peace. London: Weidenfeld, 2001.*
Connolly, Colm. The Pact. London: Andre Deutsch, 1980.
Coogan, Patrick. The General. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1993.
Costello, Mary. Titanic Town. London: Methuen, 1992.
Countryman, Albert J. The Streets of Derry. Palmyra, NJ: Countryman Pub., c. 1986.
Courts, Johnson. Collusion. London: Minerva, 1996.
Cowell, John. The Begrudgers. Dublin: O’Brien, 1978.
Crawford, Richard. Fall When Hit. London: Mandarin, 1993.
Cregan, Conor. With Extreme Prejudice. San Jose, CA: ToExcel, c. 2000.
Cunningham, Peter. Who Trespass Against Us. London: Century, 1993.
Daly, Ita. All Fall Down. London: Bloomsbury, 1993.*
Daniel, James. Out of the Strong. London: Pan, 1995.
Davies, Murray. The Drumbeat of Jimmie Sands. London: HarperCollins, 1999.
De Mille, Nelson. Cathedral. New York: Delacorte, 1981.

Desser, Julian. Soap Star Kidnapped: A Newspaper Novel. Southport: Tabloid Books, 1992.
de St. Jorre, John. The Patriot Game. London: Coronet, 1974.
De Villiers, Gerard. S.A.S. furie à Belfast. Paris: Plon, 1974.
Deane, Seamus. Reading in the Dark. New York: Knopf, 1997.*
Dickinson, Peter. The Green Gene. London: Hodder & Stoughton, c. 1973.
Dillon, Martin. The Serpent’s Tail. London: R. Cohen, 1995.
Donnelly, Joe. The Shee. London: Century, 1992.
Douglas, James. The Clearing. Melbourne, Australia: Perfect Publ., 1994.
Dowd, Siobhán. Bog Child.  Oxford: David Fickling, 2008.
Dowling, Kevin. Interface Ireland. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1979.
Driscoll, Peter. In Connection with Kilshaw. Philadelphia, PA.: Lippincott, 1974.
Drummond, June. Bang! Bang! You’re Dead. London: Gollancz, c. 1973.
Duffaud, Briege. A Wreath Upon the Dead. Dublin: Poolbeg, 1994.
Dunne, Lee. Ringmaster. Dublin: Wolfhound, 1986.
Edwards, Ruth Dudley. The Anglo-Irish Murders. London: HarperCollins, 2000.*
Egleton, Clive. The Mills Bomb. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1978.
Eickhoff, Randy Lee. The Gombeen Man. New York: Walker, 1992.

Esler, Gavin. Loyalties. London: Headline, 1990.
Feeney, John. Worm Friday. Dún Laoghaire: Anna Livia, c. 1974.*
Finlay, Fergus. A Cruel Trade. London: A. Deutsch, 1990.
Foley, Michael. Getting Used to Not Being Remarkable. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1998.*
Forsyth. The Deceiver. New York: Bantam, 1992.*
Gadney, Reg. Just When We Are Safest. London: Faber, 1995.*
Gallie, Menna. You’re Welcome to Ulster! London: Gollanz, 1970.
Garfield, Brian. The Paladin. New York: Simon and Schuster, c. 1979.Gibbons, Alan. The Defender. London: Orion, 2004.
Gibson, Elizabeth. The Water is Wide. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, c. 1984.
Gibson, Tom. A Wild Hope. London: Hale, 1983.
Gill, B. M. Target Westminster. Halifax, UK: Remploy, c. 1977.
Gill, Bartholomew. McGarr and the Politician’s Wife.  New York: Scribner, c. 1977.
Gill, Bartholomew. McGarr and the P.M. of Belgrave Square. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Gill, Bartholomew. McGarr and the Method of Descartes. New York: Viking, 1984.*
Gill, Bartholomew. McGarr at the Dublin Horse Show. New York: Scribner, c. 1979.
Grant, David. Emerald Decision. New York: Hold, Rinehart, c. 1980.*
Gray, Pat. The Political Map of the Heart. Sawtry: Dedalus, 2001.*
Gross, Ken. Hell Bent. New York: T. Doheny, 1992.
Hale, John. Lovers and Heretics. London: Gollanz, 1976.
Hamill, Desmond. Bitter Orange. London: Hutchinson, 1979.*
Hamill, Pete. The Guns of Heaven. London: Titan, 2011.
Hanley, Clifford. Prissy. London: Collins, 1978.
Harcourt, Palma. A Sleep of Spies. London: Collins, 1979.
Harris, Peter. A Solitary Terrorist. Lewes, Sussex: Book Guild, 1987.
Hawke, Christopher. For Campaign Service. London: Corgi, 1979.
Hayward, David. The Provo Link. London: Hale, 1979.
Healy, Dermot. Fighting with Shadows. Champaign, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 2015.
Healy, Dermot. A Goat’s Song. New York: Viking, 1995.
Hegarty, David. Short Storm. Cork: Emperor, 1991.
Herron, Shaun. The Hound and the Fox and the Harper. New York: Berkley, 1971.
Herron, Shaun. Through the Dark and Hairy Wood. London: Cape, 1973.
Herron, Shaun. The Whore Mother. London: Cape, 1973.
Higgins, Jack. The Savage Day. Greenwich, CT.: Fawcett, 1974.
Higgins, Jack. The Violent Enemy. London: Harper, 2008.
Higgins, Jack. Drink With the Devil. London: Michael Joseph, c. 1996.
Higgins, Jack. Angel of Death. New York: Putnam’s, c. 1995.
Higgins, Jack.  A Prayer for the Dying. London: Collins, 1973. (+film)
Hill Niki. Death Grows on You. London: M. Joseph, 1993.
Hilliar, Michael. Come Dance with Me. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1977.
Higgins, George V.  The Patriot Game. New York: Knopf, 1982.
Hogan, Desmond.  A Curious Street. New York: G. Brazilliar, 1984.
Hogan, Desmond. A New Shirt. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1986.
Holland, Jack. The Prisoner’s Wife. New York: Dodd, Mead, c. 1981.
Holland, Jack. Walking Corpses. Dublin: Torc, 1994.
Holloway, Rupert. The Terrorist Conspiracy. Lewes: Book Guild, 1982.
Howlett, John.  Orange. London: Hutchinson, 1985.
Hurd, Douglas. Vote to Kill. London: Collins, 1975.
Hurley, Graham. Reaper. London: Macmillan, 1991.
Hutson, Shaun. Knife Edge. London: Little Brown, 1997.
Hutson, Shaun. White Ghost. London: Little Brown, 1994.
Hynes, James. The Wild Colonial Boy. New York: Athaneum, 1990.
Ingoldby, Grace. Across the Water. London: Michael Joseph, 1985.
Jacks, Oliver. Assassination Day. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976.
Jacobsen, Keith. Place of a Skull.  London: Thames River Press, 2013.
James, Evelyn. Taking the Forbidden Road. Holywood, Northern Ireland: Third House, 1991.
Johnston, Jennifer. Shadows on Our Skin. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1977.
Johnston, Jennifer. The Railway Station Man. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1984.
Jones, R. W. The Green Reapers. London: Michael Joseph, 1988.
Joyce, Joe. Off the Record. London: Heinemann, 1989.
Joyce, Joe. The Trigger Man. New York: Norton, 1991.
Judd, Alan.  A Breed of Heroes. New York: coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1981.
Kavanagh, P. J. Only By Mistake. New York: Riverrun Press, 1986.
Kelly, James. The Marrow From the Bone. Bailieboro, Co. Cavan: Kelly Kane, 1987.
Kennedy, James. Armed and Dangerous. London: Mandarin, 1996.
Kerrigan, Philip. Dead Ground. New York: St. Martin’s, 1985.*
Kiely, Benedict. Proxopera. Boston: Godine, 1987*
Kiely, Benedict. Nothing Happens in Carmincross. Boston: Godine, 1985.
Kilcommon, Denis. Serpent’s Tooth. New York: Bantam, 1989.
Kippax, Frank. Other People’s Blood. London: HarperCollins, 1992.
Lane, Andrew. Forgive the Executioner. London: New English Library, 1978.
Lauder, Peter. Noble Lord. London: Fontana, 1986.
Laurence, Jyl. Un Coeur en Irlande. Paris: Flammarion, 1996.

Leitch, Maurice. Chinese Whispers. London: Hutchinson, 1987.
Le Meur, Dominique.  Où vas-tu Irlande?. Spézet: Coop Breizh, 1998.
Leather, Stephen. The Chinaman. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992.
Leitch, Maurice. Poor Lazarus. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1985.
Leitch, Maurice. Silver’s City. Londin: Minerva, 1995.
Leland, Mary. Approaching Priests. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1991.
Lingard, Joan. Across the Barricades. London: Hamilton, 1972.
Lingard, Joan. The Lord on Our Side. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1970.
Lingard, Joan. The Guilty Party. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1987.
Lingard, Joan. Hostages to Fortune. London: Puffin, 1995.
Lingard, Joan. A Proper Place. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1975.
Lingard, Joan. Into Exile. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1973.
Lingard, Joan. The Twelfth Day of July. London: Puffin, 1996.

Maas, Peter. Father and Son. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989.*
MacAnthony, Joseph. The Setanta Operation. London: Grafton, 1991.
MacDowell, Vincent. An Ulster Idyll. Dublin: Annamount, 1989.
MacLaverty, Bernard. Cal. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014.*
Madden, Deirdre. Hidden Symptoms. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986.
Madden, Deirdre. One By One in the Darkness. Boston: Faber, 1996.
Martin, David. The Task. London: Secker &Warburg, 1975.
Martin, David. The Ceremony of Innocence. London: Secker & Warburg, 1969.*
May, Naomi. Troubles. London: Calder, 1976.
McBratney, Sam. Mark Time. London: Abelard-Schuman, 1976.
McCabe, Eugene. Victims. London: gollancz, 1976.*
McCabe, Patrick. Carn. London: Picador, 1993.*
McCabe, Patrick. Breakfast on Pluto. New York: HarperPerennial, 1999.* (and film on DVD)
McCartan, Dominic. Operation Emerald. New York: Dembner, 1985.
McCarthy, Thomas. Without Power. Dublin: Poolbeg, 1991.
McCaughren, Tom. Rainbows of the Moon. Dublin: Anvil, 1989.
McCrum, Robert. The Psychological Moment. London: Secker & Warburg, 1993.
McEldowney, Eugene. A Kind of Homecoming. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994.
McEldowney, Eugene. A Stone of the Heart. London: Mandarin, 1996.*
McGeough, Gerry. Defenders. Monaghan: Seesyu Press, 1998.
McKeon, James. Operation Pontiff. Cork: Acorn, 1994.
McKinty, Adrian. The Cold, Cold Ground. London: Serpent’s Tail, 2012.

McLoughlin, Jane. Coincidence. London: Virago, 1992.
McMahon, Blair. Nights in Armour. Lurgan: Ulster Society Publications, 1993.
McNamara, Michael. The Dancing Floor. New York: Crown, 1978.
McNamee, Eoin. Last of Deeds. New York: Picador, 1996.
McNamee, Eoin. Orchid Blue. London: Faber, 2010.*
McNamee, Eoin. Resurrection Man. London: Picador, 1994.*
McVeigh, Paul. The Good Son. Cromer, Norfolk: Salt, 2015.
Mealy, Colm. Operation Falco. London: Minerva, 1998.
Michaels, S. J. Dieback. London: Pan, 1992.
Michaels, Sarah. Summary Justice. London: Frederick Muller, 1988.

Miles, Monty. Reasonable Maniacs: For the Love of Northern Ireland. San Jose: Writers Club Press, 2000.
Miner, Valerie. Blood Sisters. London: The Women’s Press, 1981.
Mitchell, Julie. Sunday Afternoons. London: Viking, 1988.*
Mitchell, Susanna. The Colour of His Hair. London: Allison & Busby, 1994.
Molloy, Frances. No Mate for the Magpie. London: Virago, 1985.*
Molloy, Pat. A Legacy of Demons. Llandysul: Gomer, 1989.
Moore, Brian. Lies of Silence. London: Bloomsbury, 1990.*
Mornin, Daniel. All Our Fault. London: Hutchinson, 1991.
Morrow, John. The Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1977.*
Morrow, John. The Essex Factor. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1982.
Nelson, Walter. The Minstrel Code. London: Secker & Warburg, 1979.
Neville, Stuart. The Final Silence. New York: Soho, 2014.
Neville, Stuart. The Ghosts of Belfast. New York: Soho, 2009.
Newman, G. F. The Testing Ground. London: Sphere, 1989.
Nicholl, Ned. No More Leprechauns. London: New English Library, 1975.
Nolan, Frederick.  Designated Assassin. London: Arrow, 1991.
North, Michael. Mission to Ulster. London: Dennis Dobson, 1981.
Ó Doibhlin, Breandán. An Branar Gan Cur. Dublin: Sairséal Ó Marcaigh, 1979.
Ó Siadhail, Pádraig. Éagnairc. Indreabhán: CIC, 1994.
O’Brien, Edna. House of Splendid Isolation. New York: Farrar Straus, 1994.
O’Callaghan, Gareth. Dare to Die. Dublin: Poolbeg, 1996.*
O’Connor, Brian. The One-Shot War. New York: Times Books, 1980.
O’Doherty, Malachi. Belfast Story. Whitley Bay: Erdesdun Pomes, 1976.
O’Donovan. Uinsin. Rag Shadows. Dublin: Cill Enna, 1980.
O’Mahony, T. P. The Lynch Years: A Political Fantasy. Mountrath, Portlaoise: Dolmen, 1986.
O’Neill, Edward A. The Rotterdam Delivery. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975.
O’Reilly, Victor. Games of the Hangman. Headline, 1992.
O’Sullivan, Mark. Silent Stones.  Dublin: Wolfhound, 1999.
Ould, Chris. A Kind of Sleep. London: A. Deutsch, 1986.
Paisley, Rhonda. Lost Fathers. Belfast: Ambassador Productions, 1995.
Park, David. The Healing. London: Phoenix, 1993.
Park, David. Stone Kingdoms. London: Bloomsbury, 2015.
Park, David. The Rye Man. London: Jonathan Cape, 1994.
Patrick, Sean. Maureen’s Ireland. Seán Patrick, 1986.
Patterson, Glenn. Burning Your Own. London: Minerva, 1993.
Patterson, Glenn. Fat Lad. London: Chatto & Windus, 1992.*
Patterson, Glenn. The International. London: Anchor, 1999.*
Patterson, Glenn. The Rest Just Follows, or Up Here. London: Faber, 2014.*
Patterson, Harry. Cry of the Hunter. London: World Distributors, 1963.
Perry, Ritchie. Dead End. London: Collins, 1977.
Petit, Chris. The Psalm Killer. New York: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1998.
Pincher, Chapman. The Eye of the Tornado. London: Sphere, 1978.
Power, M. S. The Killing of Yesterday’s Children. New York: Viking, 1986.
Power, M. S. A Darkness in the Eye. London: Heinemann, 1987.
Quigley, Patrick. Borderland. Dingle: Brandon, 1994.*
Quinn, John. Generations of the Moon. Dublin: Poolbeg, 1995.*
Rae, Hugh C. Whip Hand. London: Sphere, 1974.
Ransley, Peter. The Price. London: Severn House, 1985.
Renwick, Aly. …Last Night Another Soldier. London: Information on Ireland, 1989.
Rice, David. Blood Guilt. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1994.*
Rooney, Seán. Early Many a Morning. Dingle: Brandon, 1994.
Rowe, John. Long Live the King. New York: Stein and Day, 1984.
Royce, Kenneth. A Wild Justice.  London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1992.
Ryan, Chris The Watchman. London: Century, 2001.

Scott, Hardiman. Operation 10. Sevenoaks: Coronet, 1983.
Seaman, Donald. The Committee. New York: Atheneum, 1978.
Sefton, Catherine. Along a Lonely Road. London: Hamilton, 1991.
Sefton, Catherine. The Beat of the Drum. London: Walker, 2001.
Sefton, Catherine. Frankie’s Story. London: Walker, 2000.
Seymour, Gerald. The Contract. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.
Seymour, Gerald. The Journeyman Tailor.  New York: Edward Burlingame, 1992.
Seymour, Gerald. Field of Blood. Glasgow: Fontana/Collins, 1986.
Seymour, Gerald. The Glory Boys. New York: Random House, 1976.
Seymour, Gerald. Harry’s Game. New York: Random House, 1975.
Shannon, James. A Game of Soldiers. London: Sphere, 1985.
Shea, Michael. Spin Doctor. London: HarperCollins, 1996.*
Shelley, Mike. The Last Private Eye in Belfast. Belfast: Domino, 1984.
Sherman, Eileen. The Divided Heart. Leicester: Ulverscroft, 1998.
Shriver, Lionel. The Bleeding Heart. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1990.
Silva, Daniel. The Marching Season. London: Orion, 2001.
Smith, Murray. A Gun for Delilah. London: Robert Hale, 1979.
Spain, Peter. Blood Scenario. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1980.
Stevens, Gordon. Provo. London: HarperCollins, 1993.
Strong, Terence. The Tick Tock Man. London: Heinemann, 1994.
Stuart, Francis. Memorial. Dublin: Raven Arts, 1984.
Stuart, Francis. A Hole in the Head. Nantucket, MA.: Longship Press, 1977.
Symons, Julian. The Detling Secret. New York: Viking, 1983.
Target, George W. The Patriots. London: Duckworth, 1974.
Taylor, Patrick. Now and in the Hour of Our Death. New York: Forge, 2014.
Theroux, Paul The Family Arsenal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.
Thomas, David. Anger’s Violin. Dingle: Mount Eagle, 1998.
Thompson, David. Broken English. New York: Henry Holt, 1988.
Urch, Marion. Violent Shadows. London: Headline Review, 1996.
Valentine, Deborah. Fine Distinctions. New York: Avon, 1991.
Van Greenaway, Peter. Suffer! Little Children. London: Gollancz, 1976.
Waddell, Martin. The Beat of the Drum. London: Walker, 1989.
Waddell, Martin. Come Back When I’m Sober. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.
Waddell, Martin. Frankie’s Story.  London: Walker Books, 1988.
Waddell, Martin. A Little Bit British. London: Tom Stacey, 1970.
Walker, Martin. The Infiltrator. New York: Dial, 1978.
Wead, R. Douglas. Tonight They’ll Kill a Catholic. Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1974.
Weber, Katherine. The Music Lesson. New York: Crown, 1998.*
West, Tara. Fodder. Belfast: Blackstaff, 2002.
Weston, Simon. Cause of Death. Rochester: 22 Books, 1996.
White, Jon Manchip. The Robinson Factor. Frogmore, Hertfordshire: Panther, 1976.
White, Steve. The Fighting Irish. New York: Warner, 1982.
White, Stuart. The Shamrock Boy. London: Bodley Head, 1990.
White, Terence de Vere. The Distance and the Dark. Boston: Gambit, 1973.
Wilson, Des. The Demonstration. Belfast: Desmond Wilson, 1982.
Wilson, Robert McLiam. Ripley Bogle. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1989.*
Wilson, Robert McLiam. Eureka Street. London: Secker & Warburg, 1991.
Wilson, Stewart J. The Gobbins. London: Minerva, 1997.
Winch. Arden. Blood Money. London: British Broadcasting Corp., 1981.
Wood, James. Road to Canossa. London: Hutchinson, 1971.
Woods, Una. The Dark Hole Days. Belfast: Blackstaff, 1984.
Wright, Glover. Headhunter. London: Macmillan, 1994.

Updated, July 19, 2018.

The rediscovery of Irish song books on our shelves…

With the transfer of music books from the Hesburgh Library to the new Music Library in O’Neill Hall, songbooks and books on Irish music that are more appropriately housed with the Irish Collection have been transferred to the Hesburgh Special Collections.  Among these books are collections of ballads (without music notation) such as the many books published by Waltons of Dublin, and also a selection of sheet music published outside Ireland.

In the examples below, click on the images to open up a better view.

 A Cycle of Irish Song, by Alfred L. Greaven. 

Including: Erin’s National Anthem (Gaelic and English),
Dark Rosaleen,
March of the Gael,
Con to Eileen,
My Own Land,
Songs of Our Land.

Dublin, James Duffy and Co., 1900.

Tho only other  U.S. copy listed on WorldCat is in Villanova University.  

I have found no information about the author other than the fact that he was a priest, and is listed in the National Library of Ireland’s catalogue also as author of a book, Irish Violin Makers: Some Brief Notes, published in Dublin by Gill, 1911.

The note accompanying the book, donated by the Rev. Greacen, expresses the hope that the songs will be ‘taken up loyally by our National Societies, A.O. Hibernians, Irish National Foresters, and all who are working for “Faith and Fatherland”‘.

The anthem included here, ‘Erin’s National Anthem’, includes the music and verses in English by Rev. Alfred Greaven (referred to in the Irish text as An t-Athair A. Ua Gríbhthín), and the Irish translation, ‘Amhrán Buadha na h-Éireann’ by Andrew O’Duffy.

Walton’s, Boosey and Pigott

Books such as Irish Fireside Songs published by Walton’s generally have no date information, but as Walton’s Music was founded in the early 1920s, we know that they were produced since then.  Irish Fireside Songs was a series of pamphlets, with covers in different colors, and selections of songs (words only), on different themes. At a cost of fourpence, or four times the cost of a daily newspaper, they were inexpensive, and quite ephemeral.

Another Walton’s series, Sing an Irish Song, recalls the Waltons-sponsored program on Raidio Éireann, presented by Leo Maguire from 1952 until RTÉ ended its sponsored programmes in 1981.

Of the sheet music that arrived from the music collection, many are songs composed and published outside Ireland, publications by British music publisher Boosey include ‘Mavourneen’, words by George Weatherly, music by Florence Aylward. . Other songs include ‘Husheen’ and ‘Come Back to Erin’.  The ‘Mavourneen’ score is very rare, and our copy is possibly the only one in America.

A very rare Dublin publication, this time from Pigott & Co., is shown at the top of the page. The Comic Irish Lancers on Popular Irish Songs arranged by Leonard Gautier.  Played by Mr. Liddel’s Viceregal Band (top of page), the music is an arrangement of the following songs by Percy French, Valentine Vousden and W. S. Ashcroft: ‘Mat Hanigan’s Aunt’, ‘The Crockery Ware’, ‘The Irish Jaunting Car’, ‘Slattery’s Mounted Fut’, ‘The Night that Miss Cooney Eloped’, ‘Solders Three’, ‘Irish Invitation’ and ‘Phil the Fluter’s Ball’.  This, again, is undated, and so we know that it cannot have been earlier than 1867 when John Riddell was appointed director of the Viceregal Band. Pigott & Co. were publishing music and songs from about 1866 also, and my best guess is that it was published between 1870 and 1890.

Color is unusual in these sheet music covers, although many have ornate writing and some have drawings or photographs.

Also among the Irish publications, this time from Walton’s, and probably from the 1930s, is ‘Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile’,  with Englsh translation: ‘Hail to Thee Fair Isle’ by Joseph M. Crofts. Crofts is the author of the English translation — the song is a traditional song, adapted by Pádraig Mac Piarais. Once again, a search through union catalog WorldCat shows only one other copy, this time in the National Library of Ireland.

The songs in these books might never be performed again, but the songbooks and sheets are very interesting artifacts from their time.

In 1931 Captain Francis O’Neill, one of the great collectors of Irish music, gave his library to the University of Notre Dame. O’Neill, born in County Cork in 1848, left Ireland in his teens and after some interesting years which included working as a sailor, settled into a career in the Chicago police force, becoming Chief of Police in 1901. Throughout his life his passion was Irish music, and he collected assiduously from Irish immigrants in the Chicago area. He also amassed a large collection of books on music and on Irish history, and these books, now in the Hesburgh Special Collections, show signs of his research in small pencil marks in the margins.

Many Irish dance tunes might have been lost but for the collections that O’Neill published. His collections are among the most important sources of Irish dance music.

In addition to the books, the Library received two manuscript books, each with an interesting provenance. The manuscripts were in poor condition, and have recently been taken to the Conservation Lab where conservator Sue Donovan stabilized bindings, carried out some mending and re-sewing, and returned them to the Rare Books Department in new custom-made cases.

They have also been digitally scanned, and may be viewed by clicking on the links below.

MSE 1435-B
P.D. Reidy Manuscript. [c1890]

Manuscript of Patrick Reidy, Professor of Dance.

The Dancing Master was popular in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century. Travelling dancing masters would stay some weeks in an area, and hold classes there. O’Neill devotes a chapter to the Dancing Master in his Irish Minstrels and Musicians (Chicago, 1913).

With the Irish peasantry dancing was a passion, hence the necessity for a teacher. On stated evenings during the winter, regardless of the condition of the roads, or the inclemency of the weather, a large company of aspirants for the skill, ranging in age from ten to forty years, would assemble in some roomy barn having a smooth hard floor of clay to be instructed in the salutatory art…
O’Neill 421

London in the 1890s had a large Irish population, and had its own branch of the Gaelic League by 1897, and when this branch eventually engaged a professional teacher for dance classes, they found Patrick Reidy, or Professor Reidy, a well-known dancing master from Kerry, living in Hackney, London.

It was Reidy who introduced and taught the group dances such as ‘The Siege of Ennis’ and ‘The Walls of Limerick’ which first became popular in London Gaelic League gatherings, then spread throughout England and into Ireland, through Gaelic League activities such as the 1901 Oireachtas in Dublin. Reidy was also one of the chief sources for the dances in A Handbook of Irish Dances (1902).

Our information on the manuscript in Captain O’Neill’s collection comes from O’Neill’s Irish Minstrels and Musicians. Apparently he and O’Neill were corresponding, and according to O’Neill, “the talented and kindly ‘Professor of Dancing, London and Castleisland,’ obligingly forwarded us a MS. book of music and a treatise from his own pen entitled: Dancing-Theory as It Should Be.”

This manuscript contains 37 pages of music, mostly dance tunes although there are some slow airs. A note on the source is often provided, with occasional additional comments such as that on the illustration above.

For more information on Patrick Reidy and the development of Irish céilí dancing, see Nicholas Carolan: The beginnings of ceili dancing: London in the 1890s. Dublin: Irish Traditional Music Archive, 2012. PDF: http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/book/beginnings-of-ceili-dancing/

MSE 1434-B
H. Hudson Manuscript [c.1841]

Manuscript of Henry Hudson of Dublin.

Henry Hudson (1798-1889) was a Dublin dentist and one of the early collectors of Irish songs and music. He collected and transcribed music and published selections, 106 melodies in all, in The Citizen or Dublin Monthly Magazine, of which he was musical editor from 1841 to 1843.

In a letter written to Charlotte Milligan Fox, dated July 28th, 1911, O’Neill explains that he purchased the Hudson manuscript volume through Nassau Massey of Cork. Of the other six manuscripts in Hudson’s collection, five are in Boston Public Library and one is in the National Library of Ireland.

O’Neill describes his volume as follows:

‘Vol. 3 – H. Hudson’ is strongly penned on the outside of the cover. On the inside of the front cover, and continued along the   fly-leaf, is an index commencing with No. 243 and ending with 370, followed by the signature, ‘H. Hudson, 24 Stephen’s Green.’ The little volume is oblong, 9 by 3¾ inches.
Of the total number of tunes and airs –128—full fifty seem to have been taken from another numbered MSS. collection made by F. M. Bell, who credits them to Mrs. Foley, Margaret Foley, Mary Parker, and Margaret Kearney.
Others to whom H. Hudson acknowledges his indebtedness are James Barton, John Barton, John McFail, besides Simon Sullivan and Jack Piggott, pipers; also ‘Dublin Ballad-singer,’ Cocks’ ‘Encyclopædia of Melody,’ Walker’s ‘Hibernian magazine,’ and ‘Ordnance Survey of Londonderry.’
Perhaps the most interesting notation in the volume is: ‘The Maid of Sweet Gurteen,’ taken down by W. E. Hudson from singing of a little girl, Trassan (?) Street, six o’clock p.m., 9th December, 1840; and ‘Erin’s Lovely Home,’ taken down by W. E. Hudson, Naas, 17th December, 1840.

C. Milligan Fox “Concerning the William Elliott Hudson Collection of Irish Folk Songs” in the Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, Vol. X (1912), pp. 5-9.

Plate from Gulliver’s Travels illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

The Hesburgh Special Collections has an excellent collection of Jonathan Swift. The collection was developed from two main sources, the Vienken Collection and the Michael Foot Collection.

The collection of Gulliver’s Travels spans a couple of centuries, from the earliest editions printed in 1726 and 1727 to illustrated editions of the twentieth century.

I’m preparing for a class visit, and selecting the editions to have on view.  There are so many!  I should select one early edition, one translation, and one or two later illustrated editions.  Below are some of the editions currently on my shelf:

Gulliver’s travels into several remote nations of the world by Jonathan Swift; with a memoir of the author ; illustrated with upwards of 300 wood-engravings, from designs by J.G. Thomson, engraved by W.L. Thomas.London: S.O. Beeton, [1864?]

Even the “memoir of the author” is illustrated.

Gulliver’s travels into several remote regions of the world: in four parts by Jonathan Swift; illustrated by above 100 designs by Gordon Browne. London : Blackie, 1886.

This one is “adapted and edited for youth”.

Voyages de Gulliver traduits de l’anglais de Swift par l’abbé Des Fontaine. Paris : Chez Billois, 1813.

This translation was first published in France in 1727.

The bibliography of Swift, frequently referred to as “Teerink”, whose numbers are used to identify various editions, is available for use in the Special Collections Reading Room: H. Teerink, A Bibliography of the Writings of Jonathan Swift, second edition, ed. Arthur H. Scouten. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963.

The illustration at the top of this page is one of my favorites.  It is from the following 1909 edition: Gulliver’s travels into several remote nations of the world / Jonathan Swift; illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London : J.M. Dent & Co. ; New York : E.P. Dutton & Co., 1909.

The Hesburgh Library Special Collections recently acquired a very handsome edition of Malton’s Views of Dublin.

James Malton. A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin Described. In a series of the most interesting Scenes taken in the year 1791. By James Malton. With a brief authentic history from the earliest accounts to the present time. Engraved titlepage and dedication, Arms of Dublin, a Correct Survey of Dublin as it stood in the year 1610, and twenty-five plates of views. London, 1803.

The detail above is of the view of City Hall across the Liffey from the corner of Capel Street.

The Hesburgh Library is home to a great collection of maps of Ireland, the collection of the late Mr. Thomas McGrath, which he gave to the Library over twenty years ago.  He gave a lecture on the occasion of donating his collection, and the text of his lecture, along with illustrations, is on the Rare Books website: The Joy of the Chase: Collecting old Irish Maps.

It would be nice to see the maps used more often for teaching and research, and so we plan to improve the cataloging of these maps over the coming year, and also to investigate digitization.

A New and Correct Chart of the Harbour of Corke by the Revd. J. Lindsay, 1759.

Mr. McGrath’s collection included sea charts, which he gave to the library as a separate collection, named the Butler Collection of Sea Charts in honor of his wife’s family.

In addition to the McGrath and Butler Collections, there are many maps of Ireland in books in the Hesburgh Special Collections.  Examples:

The exhibit of Irish children’s books is now in the Rare Books Room, and will be there until mid-December.  A number of classes have already visited and had tours of the exhibit.

Artwork by Sara Weber uses Rosamond Praeger’s Further Doings of Three Bold Babes for the poster image and also for background.

Researching for this exhibit was helped considerably by the assistance of Rebecca Rossi, who worked as an intern during the summer.

Diane Sikorski and Liz Dube provided all the conservation and exhibit-mounting support.  We are lucky to have an excellent conservation lab at the Hesburgh Libraries.

In addition to the Exhibit Committee at the Department of Rare Books, the Hesburgh Libraries’ new Director of Communications and Marketing, Tara O’Leary, is helping to make our exhibits much more visible to the campus community.