Buy Books for Christmas?

Here’s a selection of new books that might be of interest.

New Books from County Longford Historical Society

County Longford Historical Society recently co-published, with Geography Publications, County Longford Explored by Dr Fergus O’Ferrall. The book has Dr O’Ferrall’s collected essays on many aspects of Longford’s history since 1978, including: land and society in Moydow barony; the campaign for Catholic Emancipation; agrarian strife; and essays on Oliver Goldsmith and Maria Edgeworth, two of Longford’s great writers. Copies are €40 each, directly from the society.
The society also produced its annual journal, Teathbha, edited by Martin Morris. It has contributions covering a wide range of subjects. Terry Connell has an article about the county’s archaeological sites. Ros McAdden assesses the famous Black Pig’s Dyke or Duncla, in light of recent excavations. Helen Meehan considers references to Teathbha in the Annals of Ulster. Ciaran O’Hanlon gives a possible origin of the name of Longford town. Martin Morris writes about Rev. John Ker, Church of Ireland Dean of Ardagh. Tom Greene, writes about shootings in Gelsha in the 1820s. Edward Walsh extracts mentions of Longford natives from an Argentine newspaper. Roger Timlin outlines mining in Cleenrath, Enaghan and Keel. Seán Ó Súilleabháin uncovers a Rathcline All-Ireland winning hurler, Tom Belton. Neil Moxham highlights the extraordinary photographs taken by his grandaunt, Louise, a nurse in the First World War. Fergus O’Ferrall describes an initiative by Longford’s ‘Patriotic Protestants’ in 1920. Cormac Duignan writes about his grandfather, Peter Duignan, Ballinamuck, a great local historian. Paddy Egan explains the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ in his area. David Leahy provides a fascinating guide to church records and census fragments. And more! Copies are €15 each.
To order either book, please go to County Longford Historical Society’s website – longfordhistory.ie.

Irish Georgian Society

Artists and Pirates: Satirical Prints in Georgian London and Dublin
by Silvia Beltrametti and William Laffan
Churchill House Press, 2025. Hardback.

This publication, which accompanies an exhibition in the Irish Architectural Archive, explores single-sheet satire in Georgian London and its smaller but still dynamic offshoot in early nineteenth-century Dublin.
For more information click here.

Royal Irish Academy

Ballyshannon/Béal Átha Seanaidh: Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 32

Authored by: Angela Byrne

This new historical atlas explores the town of Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal from its origins to the present day. It traces the town’s development from a fording point and O’Donnell stronghold, through its nineteenth-century heyday as a thriving port and market town with international trading connections, into the twenty-first century. The volume includes large-format reproductions of historic maps, views and photographs from the late sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, as well as specially created thematic maps. A gazetteer of over 680 sites and an accompanying essay provide a detailed topographical history of the town up to c. 1900.

Pious and promiscuous – Life, love and family in Presbyterian Ulster

Authored by: Leanne Calvert

Step into the intimate worlds of Presbyterian women and men who lived, loved and laboured in long-eighteenth-century Ulster. Drawing on letters, diaries, newspapers and church court records, this book reveals the personal moments that shaped the rhythms and rituals of Presbyterian family life. From anxious parents and lovesick courting couples to rebellious youths, unfaithful spouses and grieving widows, these stories bring to life the full range of human experience. Pious and Promiscuous offers a vivid and previously unseen glimpse into how ordinary people navigated life’s most significant milestones as members of a closely knit religious community. 

Both books available here.