Early Printed Books & Special Collections

Welcome to the Department of Early Printed Books & Special Collections (EPB). Our Research Collections Study Centre is located in the basement of the Ussher Library. Our holdings include the oldest and most valuable books in an ever-expanding collection. In May 2024 we vacated our Reading Room in the East Pavilion of the Old Library. We look forward to welcoming you to our interim space while major restoration and construction works are carried out in the Old Library.

Besides all early printed books and pamphlets, Special Collections includes private press items, limited editions, signed books, Anglo-Irish literature, Irish Archival material and much else that is either valuable or vulnerable. The collections are constantly increasing, both under legal deposit of new Irish works and by purchase or donation. Cataloguing is constantly in progress to ensure that as much of the collection as possible is available to readers.