Abstract
Increased levels of literacy, the publication and import into Ireland of more books each year and the readier availability of printed matter are frequently linked with the growing political ferment during the 1790s. Ireland, no less than Britain and continental Europe, felt these forces. Bare bones were put on the skeletal argument of a link between mounting political radicalisation in Ireland and reading by J. R. R. Adams’s investigations into Ulster and then by analysts of the United Irishmen and other radical groups. Now, those earlier contributions have been much amplified through K. A. Manley’s painstaking researches. Making impressive use of newspapers in which libraries and reading clubs advertised, memoirs, travellers’ impressions, and novels, he has traced numerous libraries and book societies, which are conveniently listed in a long appendix.
The documentation is frustrating: catalogues survive for few of the collections; even fewer volumes once in the collections can be identified. Local newspapers which might mention the existence and activities of libraries are missing from many provincial towns. Notwithstanding these formidable obstacles, Manley has greatly increased knowledge of the foundations, often bringing them to light for the first time. He, like most of his pioneering predecessors, concentrates on the energising effects of the books. In part, this emphasis is inevitable since much contemporary comment was hostile, blaming the failed uprisings of 1798 on the inflammatory tracts. Furthermore, arresting texts, such as Tom Paine’s, seem worthier of notice than the merely frivolous and soporific. It is clear from rules and comments that some groups eschewed ‘the whipt syllabub of novels’, whereas others depended on such ‘pernicious books’ for profitable custom (p. 127). If Ulster continues to dominate the scene, it is supplemented with a meticulous investigation of other areas, notably Dublin. Manley contends that Ulster, especially Counties Antrim and Down, was the only area with numerous ‘working-class’ book clubs: a situation which he associates with Scottish and Presbyterian influences. (He has already published an equally illuminating account of similar developments in Scotland.) Better educational provision and a more widespread, albeit modest, prosperity also fostered an appetite for print. Throughout Ireland, however, the upsurge of activity can be traced to cravings for self-improvement. Sociability and a striving for politeness were also at work. Sometimes, the collections were accompanied by other educational strategies like lectures and demonstrations. Discussion and argument occurred: a chief reason why the impact of the books was thought to be subversive. As with almost all studies of the book and its effects, the reactions of readers, let alone their spoken comments, remain elusive. Only a few mentioned by Manley attested retrospectively to their enlightenment through access to a library.
On the basis of financing and constitutions, Manley distinguishes sharply between groups run by and catering to the ‘working class’ and those patronised by the ‘middle class’. How discrete these categories were in Ireland before 1825 may be questioned. Such a rigid division makes it hard to see where exactly apprentices, skilled artisans, ‘mechanics’ and aspirants to higher status fit. Undoubtedly there were book clubs and libraries that were variants of the rich associational life of the capital and larger towns or sociable expedients to relieve the tedium of rural retirement.
Mysteries envelop how the books were chosen. Enterprising booksellers and publishers pushed their wares, sometimes with tempting discounts; newspaper advertisements and increasing numbers of reviews alerted the interested, as did private correspondence and conversations. It is clear that if refreshment was sometimes the adjunct to reading, it thrived as a sociable pastime. Discussion of the merits of particular titles, reading aloud and courses of lectures and experiments frequently occurred in the orbit of the libraries. But these activities are only occasionally reported. In general, Manley separates those libraries which resulted from bequests and donations from those in which the subscribers made the selection of stock. It could be that forceful members of the group directed the choices. Again, there may have been discussions and dissensions of which there is now no trace.
Libraries served as centres of conviviality, although sometimes instead of contention, even of physical brawling. Several consciously aspired to avoid religious and political controversy but did not always succeed therein. By the nineteenth century, particular foundations were denounced as instruments of proselytisation. Moreover, there persisted a fear among the educated that encouraging the ignorant to acquire learning through print would make them insubordinate. Manley does full justice to the complexity of reactions and indeed to the impressive variety within the collections. His findings have many implications for the understanding of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Ireland, and, it is to be hoped, will be further explored.