Archdall, Mervyn. Monasticon Hibernicum. Or, An History of the Abbies, Priories, and other Religious Houses in Ireland. Interspersed with Memoirs of their several Founders and Benefactors, and of their Abbots and other Superiours, to the Time of their Final Suppression. Likewise, An Account of the Manner in which the Possessions belonging to those Foundations were disposed of, and the Present State of their Ruins. Collected from English, Irish, and Foreign Historians; Records, and other Authentic Documents, and from Curious and Valuable Manuscripts. With Engravings of the Several Religious and Military Habits, and a Map illustrating the History. First Edition. Dublin, Printed for Luke White, 1786. c. 25 x 20 cm. One blank, folded Map of Ireland, Title page, (6) [Dedication & Subscribers], 18 numbered Plates, pages numbered ix to xxiii [Introduction], 820 pages, (10) [Index & Errata]. Later fine brown calf binding by B. Silva, Porto. Five raised bands. Gilt title and decorations. Silk-style end papers. Very good condition. Some shelf wear, rubbing and bumping. Small material losses to boards (see images). Sound binding. Edges dust dulled. Ex Libris on front paste down by the ‘Hon.ble Simon Butler (see comments below). Ex Libris on rear paste down ‘Menlough [Castle]. Gift inscription on top of title page. Some burn damage to top first few pages, incl. Map and Title Page, not affecting images or readability. A few pencil annotation. Internally bright and clean. A very nice copy with an interesting Provenance.

Provenance:

The gift inscription on the top of the title page reads: ‘The Gift of Sir Valentine Blake on Menlough Castle to the [unreadable O’Connell or O’Donnell]’. The Ex Libris on the rear paste down states ‘Menlough Castle MDCCCIX’, however, the word ‘Castle’ has been cut out. The Blakes were one of the original ‘Tribes of Galway’.
The Blake Baronetcy, of Menlough in the County of Galway, was created in the Baronetage of Ireland on 10 July 1622 for Valentine Blake, Mayor of Galway in 1611 and 1630 and a member of the Irish House of Commons for County Galway. His grandfather Thomas Blake (died 1574) had preceded him as Mayor. The second Baronet was a member of the Irish Parliament for Galway Borough. The third Baronet represented both County Galway and Galway Borough in Parliament. The sixth Baronet was a member of the Irish House of Commons for County Galway. He was the first Catholic gentlemen of distinction to join William of Orange. The twelfth Baronet (Valentine Blake, 1780 – 1847) represented Galway Borough in the British House of Commons. He is likely to be responsible for the gift inscription on the title page.

Butler, Simon (1757-97), United Irishman and lawyer, was born in July 1757. He entered the Middle Temple (September 1772) and was called to the bar (1778); in 1784 he became a KC and a bencher of the King’s Inns, Dublin. He chaired the first meeting of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen 9 November 1791, a distinction he probably owed as much to his lineage as his ability and chaired most subsequent meetings in the following year. He often acted as legal adviser to the society and the Catholic Committee; on 21 January 1792 he produced a report for the United Irishmen detailing the severity of the remaining restrictions on Catholics under the penal laws. He acted as counsel for James Napper Tandy in June 1792, wrote a number of United Irish addresses, and was one of the deputation sent to the Catholic Convention in December 1792.
In February 1793 he was again elected chairman of the United Irishmen and appointed to the society’s parliamentary reform committee, which in April 1793 produced radical proposals for annual parliaments and universal male suffrage. The lords responded by finding them guilty of libelling the high court of parliament, sentenced them to six months’ imprisonment, and fined him £500, a punishment generally considered excessively severe. Butler was also dismissed as a KC.
On 1 March 1793 they were committed to Newgate prison, Dublin. Regarded as martyrs to liberty in radical circles, they enjoyed comfortable prison conditions. He had easy access to visitors and in May 1793 met the French agent Eleazer Oswald, who had come to Ireland to sound out support for a French invasion. He was released on 16 August 1793, his fine mostly paid by the United Irishmen.
After the police dispersed a United Irish meeting on 23 May 1794, Butler called for the society to meet openly and challenge the legality of any future interference. William Drennan admired his courage and selected him as one of his defence counsel for his trial in June 1794. Oppressed by heavy debts in the mid-1790s, Butler had less involvement with the underground United Irishmen than with the constitutional society. However, in April 1795 an informant listed him as a member of the clandestine Strugglers’ Club, which consisted of leading United Irishmen, and he was also reported as inciting Catholics to riot after the dismissal of Viscount Fitzwilliam in February 1795. Recognising the professional losses he had sustained by supporting catholic relief, in 1795 the Catholic Committee stepped in to prevent the sale of his library. He died 19 May 1797 at his lodgings in Brompton Row, London, and was buried in a vault at St James’s church, London (Dictionary of Irish Biography).

• Keywords: Classical & Old Literature · Fine Bindings & Editions · Fine Bindings & Editions · History · History & Culture · History of Ireland · Ireland · Irish Literature · Reference · Reference · Religion
• Language: English
• First edition
• Inventory Number: 104418AB

Our price: EUR 2.850,--