R.A.S. (Robert Alexander Stewart) Macalister (1870–1950), archaeologist, epigraphist and Irish scholar, was professor of Celtic Archaeology at the National University of Ireland. His archaeological research included work on Palestine as well as Ireland. He served as President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1926 to 1931.

Among the Irish language works he edited for the Irish Manuscripts Commission were facsimiles of two medieval manuscripts, the Book of Uí Mhaine and the Book of Lismore, published in 1942 and 1950. He also prepared a five-volume composite edition of the verse and prose texts known as Lebor gabála Érenn for the Irish Texts Society (London, 1938–1956).

His monograph publications included:

Studies in Irish epigraphy. A collection of revised readings of the ancient inscriptions of Ireland, with introduction and notes (3 vols, London, 1897-1907).

A history of civilization in Palestine (Cambridge, 1912).

The Philistines: their history and civilization (London, 1914).

The language of the Nawar or Zutt the nomad smiths of Palestine (London, 1914).

Ireland in Pre-Celtic times (London, 1921).

The archaeology of Ireland (London, 1928, 2nd ed. 1949).

A century of excavation in Palestine (2nd ed., London, 1930).

Tara: a pagan sanctuary of ancient Ireland (London, 1931).

Ancient Ireland: a study in the lessons of archaeology and history (London, 1935).

The secret languages of Ireland, with special reference to the origin and nature of the Shelta language (Cambridge, 1937).

Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum (2 vols, Dublin, 1945, 1949).

During the 1930s and 1940s Robert Macalister donated a varied selection of archaeological, literary and linguistic manuscripts, as well as some printed books and pamphlets, to the Royal Irish Academy Library. The Academy’s ‘Macalister collection’ comprises manuscripts, antiquarian drawings and books that he had collected rather than his own research notes. The Academy Library also holds a collection of his published books and articles.

Archaeological manuscripts, antiquarian drawings and ephemera

RIA MS 3 B 57: Diagram used by Samuel Ferguson to illustrate his discovery of pictographs in the sepulchral monument called Mane Nelud, Locmariaquer, 1863. See Ferguson, ‘Account of inscribed stones’, Proceedings RIA 8 (1861–6), pp. 398–405.

RIA MSS 12 W 2–12 W 6: Letters, transcripts, verses and historical and antiquarian sketches of Sir Samuel Ferguson, MRIA (1810–1886). This collection includes correspondence and is mainly of biographical interest. Five boxes, presented 30 Nov. 1943.

  • RIA MS 23 P 27: Scrapbook of newspaper clippings re 1916.
  • RIA MS 24 C 62: St Ann’s Dawson Street, Church of Ireland hymn sheets for St Patrick’s Day (Macalister collection, 30).
  • RIA MS 24 E 39: Illustrations of Ogham inscriptions by Richard Hitchcock (1824–1856), presented to the RIA Library by R.A.S. Macalister in March 1942. This is a companion volume to Hitchcock’s ‘Notes of Ogham inscriptions’ (RIA MS 24 E 13).
  • RIA MS 24 E 40: Inscribed stones of Ireland: a series of finely executed archaeological drawings by Richard Hitchcock (1824–1856), drawn in the years 1845–1847. Presented to the RIA Library by R.A.S. Macalister in March 1942. Dr Graves, bishop of Limerick was a former owner.

Irish language manuscripts

Robert Macalister donated his collection of Irish language manuscripts to the Academy Library. These are itemised here and are described in more detail by Gerard Murphy and Elizabeth FitzPatrick in the printed Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy Fasc. 25, pp. 1163–1191 (Dublin, 1940). Most date from the nineteenth century, with a few eighteenth-century items. Some of these manuscripts had numerous owners in a relatively short period of time.  Some had been owned at one time by D. Fitzgerald and were purchased by Macalister from Alfred Nutt; some other items had been formerly owned by Charles Haliday, MRIA.

  • RIA MS 24 C 33 (Cat. No. 1163): Live of St Margaret and miscellaneous items, penned by James Neville, 1817 (Macalister collection, 1).
  • RIA MS 24 C 34 (Cat. No. 1164): Miscellaneous poetry, penned by James White (Seamus do Faoidht), 1775–6 (Macalister collection, 2).
  • RIA MS 24 C 35 (Cat. No. 1165): notebook by Tomás Ó Conchubhair, 1847, containing vocabulary and historical notes (Macalister collection, 3).
  • RIA MS 24 C 36 (Cat. No. 1166): 19th century, miscellaneous verse, tales and notes, penned by Michael Ó Beraginn (or Ó Meriginn), County Tipperary (Macalister collection, 4).
  • RIA MS 24 C 37 (Cat. No. 1167): Irish grammar of Thomas Hyde, penned by John Sifeld Hyde (Seaghan Ó Sethechain), 19th century, and later owned by his son Stephen Christopher Hyde (Macalister collection, 5).
  • RIA MS 24 C 38 (Cat. No. 1168): Prose tales, 18th century (Macalister collection, 6).
  • RIA MS 24 C 39 (Cat. No. 1169): verse and devotional texts, 18th century (Macalister collection, 7).
  • RIA MS 24 C 40 (Cat. No. 1170): Contention of the bards, penned by Seaghan Ó Haoidhe, 1828 (Macalister collection, 8).
  • RIA MS 24 C 41 (Cat. No. 1171): Irish poetry and miscellaneous notes, penned by Tomás Ua Conchubhair and Edmond Copely (Macalister collection, 9).
  • RIA MS 24 C 42 (Cat. No. 1172): Devotional prose, penned by T. FitzPatrick, 1762–3 (Macalister collection, 10).
  • RIA MS 24 C 43 (Cat. No. 1173): Miscellaneous verse, penned by John O’Daly, 1827–8 (Macalister collection,11).
  • RIA MS 24 C 44 (Cat. No. 1174): Miscellany, mainly verse, 19th century (Macalister collection, 12).
  • RIA MS 24 C 45 (Cat. No. 1175): Historical prose, including items on Battle of Clontarf; the Fianna; St Colum Cille (Macalister collection, 13).
  • RIA MS 24 C 46 (Cat. No. 1176): Irish grammar, 19th century (Macalister collection, 14).
  • RIA MS 24 C 47 (Cat. No. 1177) Miscellaneous verse and prose, 19th century (Macalister collection, 15).
  • RIA MS 24 C 48 (Cat. No. 1178): Miscellaneous verse and notes, penned by Tomás Ua Conchubhair, 19th century (Macalister collection, 16).
  • RIA MS 24 C 49 (Cat. No. 1179): Proses tales and genealogies, penned by Thomas Geoghegan, 1823 (Macalister collection, 17).
  • RIA MS 24 C 50 (Cat. No. 1180): Eochair sgiath an Aifrinn, penned by Donochadh Mhurchoideach Ua Sganuill, 1830. Former owners included Peter Riordan (Macalister collection, 18).
  • RIA MS 24 C 51 (Cat. No. 1181): Párlement Chlainne Tomáis, penned by Pádraig Stúndún of Cork, 1896 (Macalister collection, 19).
  • RIA MS 24 C 52 (Cat. No. 1182): Life of St Patrick, penned by Pádraig Stúndún of Cork, 1895. Former owners included Robert Day (Macalister collection, 20).
  • RIA MS 24 C 53 (Cat. No. 1183): Contention of the bards, penned by Pól Ruillis, 1726 (Macalister collection, 21).
  • RIA, MS 24 C 54 (Cat. No.  1184): Tale of Balor and the Formorians on Tory Island, penned by Edmond O’Donovan, 1848 from a MS of John O’Donovan (1835), recording a story dictated by Shane O’Dugan (Macalister collection, 22).
  • RIA MS 24 C 55 (Cat. No.  1185): A large Irish miscellany, with 18th and 19th century items bound together, formerly owned by David Fitzgerald (1879) who compiled an index (Macalister collection, 23).
  • RIA MS 24 C 56 (Cat. No. 1186): A large Irish miscellany, with 18th and 19th century items bound together, formerly owned by David Fitzgerald who compiled an index. A companion volume to 24 C 55 (Macalister collection, 24).
  • RIA MS 24 C 57 (Cat. No. 1187): An Irish miscellany penned by Seosamh Ó Diomsaigh, 1796. Annotated by David Fitzgerald, former owner (Macalister collection, 25).
  • RIA MS 24 C 58 (Cat. No. 1188): Foras feasa ar Éirinn, penned by Michael Magamana, 1800, incomplete transcript (Macalister collection, 26).
  • RIA MS 24 C 59 (Cat. No. 1189): Notes arranged alphabetically, possibly intended to form a dictionary, compiled by [John] O’Donovan (Macalister collection, 27).
  • RIA MS 24 C 60 (Cat. No. 1190): Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, penned by Aindrias Ó Suiliobháin, 1780 (Macalister collection, 28).
  • RIA MS 24 C 61 (Cat. No. 1191): Devotional prose, probably early 19th century (Macalister collection, 29).

Printed books

R.A.S. Macalister also donated printed books to the RIA library at various times, including numerous Irish language items. Among the other curiosities in the collection is a Cornish grammar and vocabulary (1790). These printed works form part of the core collections of the Academy Library..