John O’Daly (Seán O Dálaigh) Manuscript Collection

The Royal Irish Academy purchased a collection of 53 manuscripts in the Irish language from John O’Daly in March 1869 for £50.

Detail from front cover paste down of a book binding, which is inscribed O'Daly Collection no. 20.

John O’Daly (1800–1878) was an author, editor, scribe, poet, bookseller, publisher and manuscript collector. He was an active supporter of the Irish language, and an enterprising publisher of material in the Irish language that had previously circulated only in manuscript form. Originally from Farnane, County Waterford, he moved to Dublin in June 1845 and established a bookshop there. He had previously operated a bookshop in Kilkenny, first at John Street in the late 1830s and later at Rose-Inn Street. While still in Kilkenny he published Reliques of Irish Jacobite poetry with metrical translations by Edward Walsh in 1844. A second edition was published in 1866.

In Dublin, John O’Daly was based first at 25 Anglesea Street (1845–1847), 7 Bedford Row (1847–5180) and then at 9 Anglesea Street from 1850. He sold books, political pamphlets and tracts, new and second hand, on history, antiquities and music. He also bought and sold manuscripts.

His shop in Dublin became a meeting place for Irish scholars and for learned societies such as the Celtic Society (established 1845) and the Ossianic Society (established 1853). He served as honorary secretary of the Ossianic Society and was its publisher. In 1853 he also described himself as agent for the Kilkenny and South East Ireland Archaeological Society and the Ulster Journal of Archaeology and ensured that their publications were available for sale in Dublin.

O’Daly issued occasional printed catalogues of publications he had for sale and he also advertised his stock at the back of the more substantial books he published. The Academy Library holds some examples of the catalogues he issued in the course of his work as a book dealer. His customers included the antiquary John Windele, in County Cork (RIA MSS 4 B 11/78; 4 B 12/45). His commercial catalogues are an important source of information on Irish-language publishing (Sharpe and Hoyne, 2020).

In common with some other booksellers in Dublin in the mid-nineteenth century he was a publisher as well as a bookdealer.

In 1846 O’Daly published Féin-theagasc Gaoidheilge. Self-instruction in Irish or the rudiments of that language brought within the comprehension of the English reader without the aid of a teacher.

In 1849 he edited and published The poets and poetry of Munster, a selection of Irish songs by the poets of the last century, with poetical translations by the late James Clarence Mangan, now for the first time published with the original music, and biographical sketches of the authors by John O’Daly. A second edition was issued the following year and reprinted in 1851. The collection contained Irish texts with English translations of eighteenth-century songs. The target audience included the supporters of the Young Ireland movement and readers of The Nation who were interested in the Jacobite poetry of the eighteenth century.

In 1849 he also published Stephen White’s Apologia pro Hibernia adversus Cambri calumnias, edited by Matthew Kelly.

O’Daly edited and published two series of Laoithe Fiannuigheachta, or Fenian poems in 1859 and 1861, as part of the Transactions of the Ossianic Society. He also served as the publisher and copy-editor of the four other volumes issued by that Society.

Towards the end of his life, O’Daly became a member of the provisional committee of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (1876–1877).

Through his network of contacts among Irish scholars and antiquaries John O’Daly was well placed to buy and sell manuscripts. His Waterford roots were important and in terms of manuscript transmission he was a channel through which some Munster manuscripts from the eighteenth century were added to the Royal Irish Academy collection.

John O’Daly began transcribing Irish manuscripts in the years 1824 to 1828, while still living in his home parish of Lickoran, and subsequently at Youghal in 1828–1829. He was employed as a bible teacher by the Irish Society for some years and resumed his scribal activities from 1843 (De Brún, 1986, 76).

The manuscripts purchased from him in 1869 included short items in his own hand, some of them containing drafts of poems that had been published by him in his anthologies of Jacobite poetry.

Manuscripts purchased by RIA

RIA MS 12 E 24 (Cat. No. 907), a miscellaneous collection of Irish fragments, mainly songs, compiled by John O’Daly in 1845, with some material by other scribes (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 E 25 (Cat. No. 908), a miscellany penned by James Nolty (Seamus Mac a Nolltaidh), probably of County Meath, in the 1772, with additions by Proinnsias Mac a Nolltaidh in 1774 (O’Daly collection, no. 32).

RIA MS 12 F 1 (Cat. No. 883), a small collection of verse penned by John O’Daly, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 2 (Cat. No. 884), a small collection of verse penned by John O’Daly, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 3 (Cat. No. 616), a collection of verse penned by John O’Daly and three other scribes (O’Daly collection, no. 8).

RIA MS 12 F 4 (Cat. No. 885), a collection of verse penned by John O’Daly and James Gleeson, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 5 (Cat. No. 886), a small collection of verse penned by John O’Daly, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 6 (Cat. No. 887), a collection of verse penned by John O’Daly in Dublin in 1848 (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 7 (Cat. No. 235), tales, beginning with Toruigheacht Dhiarmada agus Gráinne, and including a partial copy of Páirlimint Chloinne Tomáis. Penned by three Cork scribes in the eighteenth century. (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 8 (Cat. No. 888), a nineteenth-century transcript of seventeenth-century scholastic verse, scribe not named. This is a transcript of 23 D 4. (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 9 (Cat. No. 889), a small collection of verse penned by John O’Daly, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 10 (Cat. No. 890), a nineteenth-century compilation of verse penned by James O’Farrell (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 11 (Cat. No. 891), two poems transcribed by John O’Daly, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 12 (English), Life of St Bridget, by M. Kinsella, 1845 (O’Daly collection?).

RIA MS 12 F 13 (Cat. No. 892), an early nineteenth-century miscellany (grammar, verse, prose tales, and a note on the family of Viscount Roche of Fermoy) penned by Domhnall Ó Búachalla, and Seamus Corais (James Bermingham) (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 14 (Cat. No. 893), a small collection of poetry penned by John O’Daly, with printed list of contents (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 18 (Cat. No. 896), a small collection of poetry penned by John O’Daly in Dublin, 1845–1847 (O’Daly collection).

RIA MS 12 F 20 (Cat. No. 897), a collection of prose tales, penned by Laoiseach Mhadh Ceóch, c. 1773, with a printed list of contents (O’Daly collection, no. 12).

RIA MS 24 L 1 (Cat. No. 116), written by John O’Daly (Seán Ó Dálaigh) in 1862, mainly comprised of modern poetry from County Clare, along with 59 proverbs (O’Daly collection, no. 15).

RIA MS 24 L 2 (Cat. No. 117(a)), includes a genealogy of the O’Briens copied by John O’Daly in 1852. Bound with fragments of five other manuscripts, of probable Munster origin, penned by other scribes (O’Daly collection, no. 16).

RIA MS 24 L 3 (Cat. No. 118), Ossianic verse penned by John O’Daly (O’Daly collection, no. 17).

RIA MS 24 L 4 (Cat. No. 119), eighteenth-century miscellany, poetry and prose, formerly owned by James Scanlon, of Ardea, Co. Kerry (O’Daly collection, no. 18).

RIA MS 24 L 5 (Cat. No. 9), devotional verse, eighteenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 19).

RIA MS 24 L 6 (Cat. No. 8), devotional verse, seventeenth/eighteenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 20).

RIA MS 24 L 7 (Cat. No. 120), miscellany of poetry and prose, including Parliament na mBan and Iomarbhádh na bhFileadh, penned by Labhrás Ó Lainnle (Laurence Hanly) of Ennistymon, Co. Clare, 1797–1801 (O’Daly collection, no. 21).

RIA MS 24 L 8 (Cat. No. 121), miscellany penned by Labhrás Ó Lainnle (Laurence Hanly) of Ennistymon, Co. Clare (c. 1784–1786) (O’Daly collection, no. 22).

RIA MS 24 L 9 (Cat. No. 122), Eochar-sgiath an Aifrinn, penned by Seán Ó Dálaigh and Rev. Patrick Lambe, 1840s (O’Daly collection, no. 23).

RIA MS 24 L 10 (Cat. No. 123), Geoffrey Keating’s Trí bior-ghaoithe an bháis, penned by Micheál Óg Ó Longain in 1828 (O’Daly collection, no. 24).

RIA MS 24 L 11 (Cat. No. 124), religious prose texts, mainly saints’ lives, penned by Seán Ó Murchadha na Raithíneach in 1757–1758. Also contains incomplete text of Pairliament na mBan (O’Daly collection, no. 25).

RIA MS 24 L 12 (Cat. No. 774), large collection of verse, penned by Mícheál Ó Hánnrachain, 1850s (O’Daly collection, no. 26).

RIA MS 24 L 13 (Cat. No. 7), scholastic verse penned by Seán Ó Murchadha na Ráithíneach and others, eighteenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 27).

RIA MS 24 L 14 (Cat. No. 780), verse penned by James Scanlan (Séamus Ó Sgannláin) in 1779 (O’Daly collection, no. 28).

RIA MS 24 L 15 (Cat. No. 71), verse and genealogies, penned by J. Fowler in 1789 (O’Daly collection, no. 29).

RIA MS 24 L 16 (Cat. No. 158), a collection of modern verse penned by John O’Daly in 1849 (O’Daly collection, no. 30).

RIA MS 24 L 17 (Cat. No. 127), Geoffrey Keating’s Eochairsgiath an Aifrinn, penned by Semus Ó Gribín, 1698/1699 (O’Daly collection, no. 31).

RIA MS 24 L 18 (Cat. No. 128), two separate manuscripts bound together, containing sermons, Trí biorghaoithe an bháis, and verse, principal scribe not named (O’Daly collection, no. 32).

RIA MS 24 L 19 (Cat. No. 129), Roman missal penned by Thomas O’Hickey (Tomás Ó Íceadha) of Waterford, 1844/1845 (O’Daly collection, no. 33).

RIA MS 24 L 20 (Cat. No. 809), Fiannaíocht miscellany, penned by scribes from the Ó Longáin family, 1820s (O’Daly collection, no. 34).

RIA MS 24 L 21 (Cat. No. 816), miscellany, mainly prose tales, penned by John Dower (Seán Ua Dóghbhuir), Co. Limerick, 1811/1812 (O’Daly collection, no. 35).

RIA MS 24 L 22 (Cat. No. 771), a miscellany penned by various scribes including a few pages by John O’Daly (1851) (O’Daly collection, no. 36).

RIA MS 24 L 23 (Cat. No. 773), an Irish grammar in English, and a large collection of verse, penned by Michael Kissane (Micheál Ó Ciosáin), 1818 (O’Daly collection, no. 37).

RIA MS 24 L 24 (Cat. No. 136), penned by Tomás Ó Íceadha, between 1809 and 1842 (O’Daly collection, no. 38).

RIA MS 24 L 25 (Cat. No. 818), modern verse, scribe not named, formerly in the possession of scribe Nicholas O’Kearney (O’Daly collection, no. 39).

RIA MS 24 L 26 (Cat. No. 776), Romantic tales penned by Tomás Ó Íceadha, 1820s (O’Daly collection, no. 40).

RIA MS 24 L 27 (Cat. No. 813), verse, penned by Tomás Ó Íceadha, 1830s (O’Daly collection, no. 41).

RIA MS 24 L 28 (Cat. No. 814), Parrthas an Anma, copied from printed text by unnamed scribe, seventeenth century? (O’Daly collection, no. 42).

RIA MS 24 L 29 (Cat. No. 162), penned by Seaan Mac Cosgrach, of County Cork, in 1731. Includes an English treatise on the Irish language, derived from Francis O’Molloy’s Grammar and other sources; some poems in Irish by Franciscan poets; a copy of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh’s Glossary (1643); and poems from the early seventeenth-century Contention of the bards. also two stanzas in praise of Donn Ó Failbhe as a harper, possibly in John O’Daly’s hand (O’Daly collection, no. 43).

RIA MS 24 L 30 (Cat. No. 772), Ossianic poems, scribe not named. Paper watermarked 1821 (O’Daly collection, no. 44).

RIA MS 24 L 31 (Cat. No. 817), miscellany, mainly verse, penned by Patt McGahan, Co. Louth, 1820–1823 (O’Daly collection, no. 45).

RIA MS 24 L 32 (Cat. No. 770), miscellany penned by Tomás Ó Conchubhair, in Co. Tipperary, 1825 (O’Daly collection, no. 46).

RIA MS 24 L 33 (Cat. No. 134), Geoffrey Keating’s Eochairsgiath an Aifrinn, penned by Tomás Ó Íceadha, of Waterford, 1840 (O’Daly collection, no. 47).

RIA MS 24 L 34 (Cat. No. 815), miscellany, prose and verse, penned by Pádruig Mac Gáthan, Co. Louth, 1820–1824 (O’Daly collection, no. 48).

RIA MS 24 L 35 (Cat. No. 61), life of St Kevin, seventeenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 49).

RIA MS 24 L 36 (Cat. No. 131), Cath Mhuighe Léana, seventeenth-century copy penned by Pátraic Mac Oghannan for Arthur Brownlow in 1685 (O’Daly collection, no. 50).

RIA MS 24 L 37 (Cat. No. 67), miscellaneous verse, probably penned in 1810s (O’Daly collection, no. 51).

RIA MS 24 L 38 (Cat. No. 789), verse miscellany, penned by Diarmat Ó Riain and Dáibhí Ó Saoicháin, late eighteenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 52).

RIA MS 24 L 39 (Cat. No. 133), O’Clery’s glossary, penned by Tadhg Ua Bruadair, 1722 (O’Daly collection, no. 53).

RIA MS 24 L 40 (Cat. No. 820), Irish grammar, etc., penned by Patrick Lambe, 1823 for Rev. Daniel O’Rafferty (O’Daly collection, no. 54).

RIA MS 24 M 2 (Cat. No. 600), partly penned by John O’Daly in 1855. Other scribes are Standish Hayes O’Grady (1851), and possibly Nicholas Kearney. Mainly Ossianic verse; probably a working draft of material being prepared for a publication of the Ossianic Society (O’Daly collection, no. 5).

RIA MS 24 M 3 (Cat. No. 978), an unsigned transcript of the Annals of Inisfallen, probably in the hand of John O’Daly. Annotations mention Charles O’Conor’s printed text in Rerum Hibernicarum scriptores veteres (Buckingham, 1825) (O’Daly collection, no. 3).

RIA MS 24 M 4 (Cat. No. 601), verse, penned by Seán Ó Dreada, Cork, 1836 (O’Daly collection, no. 6).

RIA MS 24 M 5 (Cat. No. 602), texts of songs extracted from older sources, in John O’Daly’s hand. Used as a notebook by him in the years 1851–1857 (O’Daly collection, no. 7).

RIA MS 24 M 6 (Cat. No. 247), fragment of a larger eighteenth-century manuscript, penned by Seán Ó Murchadha na Ráithíneach, 1724–1726 (O’Daly collection, no. 8).

RIA MS 24 M 9 (Cat. No. 278), verse and prophecies, penned by Peadar Ua Conaill, 1803 (O’Daly collection, no. 9).

RIA MS 24 M 10 (Cat. No. 603), prose tales, including Táin Bó Cuailgne. nineteenth century (O’Daly collection, no. 10).

RIA MS 24 M 11 (Cat. No. 604), a collection of verse penned by John O’Daly in 1859 (O’Daly collection, no. 12).

RIA MS 24 M 13 (Cat. No. 983), a composite manuscript, including John O’Daly’s rough drafts of an edition and translation of Aongus Ó Dálaigh’s poem on the Tribes of Ireland, with comments by John O’Donovan (O’Daly collection, no. 2).

RIA MS 24 M 14 (Cat. No. 606), Cath Cnuca and topographical poem, penned by Standish Hayes O’Grady, 1851 (O’Daly collection, no. 11).

RIA MS 24 M 37 (Cat. No. 638), transcript of Imtheacht na Tromdháimhe with an English translation: ‘The Journies of the Bardic College’ (O’Daly collection, no. 14).

RIA MS 24 M 39 (Cat. No. 833), a copy of an English translation of the Táin, penned by John O’Daly in 1857; translation by Mr Kelly (O’Daly collection, no. 13).

RIA MS 24 M 43 (Cat. No. 639), a volume of poetry penned by John O’Daly between 1848 and 1851, copying from eighteenth-century manuscripts by Eoghan Ó Caoimh and Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (O’Daly collection, no. 1).

Manuscripts presented by John O’Daly

RIA MS 24 M 15 (Cat. No. 588), part of transcript by John O’Donovan of Mac Fhirbhisigh’s genealogical abstract, made for James Hardiman, 1842 (O’Daly collection, no. 55, presented March 1869 according to note followed by signature of then Librarian, J.J. Mac Sweeney)

RIA MS 24 N 4 (Cat. No. 956), transcript of Foras feasa ar Éirinn made in 1752 by Mícheál Ó Longáin. Presented by John O’Daly in 1869.

Manuscripts purchased by RIA from John O’Daly at other times

RIA MS 12 B2 12 (Cat. No. 1025), contains English poems by Matthew Graham, some of them translated from Irish. Scribe Matthew Graham (?) of County Louth; owned by Nicholas Kearney of Dundalk in 1841. Purchased by RIA from John O’Daly, April 1874.

RIA MS 24 M 12 (Cat. No. 605), an eighteenth-century transcript of Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, formerly owned by John Windele. Purchased by RIA from John O’Daly, April 1874.

Items in the Hodges & Smith Collection associated with John O’Daly

RIA MS 23 I 41 (Cat. No. 425), prose tale penned by Pat MaCarthy in 1732, has a note (deleted) on flyleaf ‘Presented to Thos (?) Geraghty by his friend John O’Daly’.

RIA MS 23 K 46 (Cat. No. 38), a miscellany of three independent manuscripts bound together, the name Seághan Ó Dálagh appears towards the end of the first item, pp 128, 129, 148).

RIA MS 23 L 1 (Cat. No. 99), a composite collection of poetry, tales and genealogies, the work of four scribes and dating from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The name of ‘Mr J. O’Daly’ is pencilled on inside cover.

RIA MS 23 M 47 (Cat. No. 973), an eighteenth-century miscellany. The hand of the final portion has been identified as that of John O’Daly. Five items bound in one.

RIA MS 23 M 50 (Cat. No. 1008), penned by Seán Ó Murchú na Ráithíneach in 1740–58, at Carraig-na-bhFear, Co. Cork.

John O’Daly as former owner of items from William Elliott Hudson bequest

Other manuscripts formerly owned by John O’Daly, but not purchased by the Academy directly from him, are also in the RIA collection. These include some items acquired in 1853 through the William Elliott Hudson bequest (Proceedings RIA, VI, 1,1853). These include the ten manuscripts with shelf-marks in the range RIA MSS 23 M 25–34 (Cat. No.s 15–24), which were originally a single manuscript. They were the work of Cork scribe, Eoghan Ó Caoimh (1656–1726) and were penned at various dates between 1684 and 1707. They consist mainly of poetry in Irish from the seventeenth and earlier centuries.

RIA MS 12 O 17 (Cat. No. 1123), a fragmentary literal translation by John O’Daly of an elegy on John Hoey, Drogheda, 1798. It survives among the RIA collection of William Elliott Hudson correspondence.

RIA MS 23 A 41 (Cat. No. 779), an early eighteenth-century manuscript, principally on Irish grammar, partially written in Madrid in 1710. Formerly owned by John O’Daly.

RIA MS 23 B 5 (Cat. No. 433), a collection of poems penned by Tomás Ó Conchubhaire in 1828, with additions by John O’Daly.

RIA MS 23 B 38 (Cat. No. 30), collection of modern poetry penned by Seamus Ó Murchú (James Murphy) in 1778–1779. In O’Daly’s possession in 1848.

RIA MS 23 E 5 (Cat. No. 525), a copy of Cath Chluana Tairbh in the hand of John O’Daly, written in February 1847; introduction, translation and notes in the hand of Nicholas Kearney.

RIA MS 23 E 14 (catalogue no. 125), penned by Seán Ó Dálaigh in Dublin in 1846, copied from the work of Seán Ó Murchú na Ráithíneach (British Library, Additional MS 29614), and Eoghan Ó Caoimh (RIA MSS 23 M 25–23 M 34).

RIA MS 23 E 23 (Cat. No. 541), transcript of Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, penned by Eoghan Ó Caoimh for Diarmuid Ó Suilleabháin in 1702–1703; in O’Daly’s possession in 1852, when he added a note on flyleaf referring the reader to The poets and poetry of Munster for information about the scribe.

RIA MS 23 N 9 (Cat. No. 561), a collection of Irish poetry; owned by John O’Daly in 1845 when he added a list of contents (William Elliott Hudson bequest).

Items in the Betham Collection associated with John O’Daly

RIA MS 23 L 6 (Cat. No. 103), written by John O’Daly in 1826–1827, a miscellany of poetry, tales, and some devotional texts, including a life of St Margaret. Later owned by Sir William Betham.

Items in the Windele Collection associated with John O’Daly

Some of John O’Daly’s correspondence on antiquarian matters survives among the Windele Collection in the RIA (MSS 4 B 5 – 4 B 23). His letters to John Windele are listed by date in Ó Drisceoil (2007), and range in date from 1844 to 1863. Ó Drisceoil (2007) also lists O’Daly correspondence surviving in other archives.

RIA MS 12 O 7 (Cat. No. 1258), part i, Windele papers, miscellany including a few items penned by John O’Daly (Windele and Croker Papers)

RIA MS 24 B 33 (Cat. No. 594). This miscellany was the work of a wide variety of scribes, among whom was John O’Daly, who penned a life of St Margaret in 1845. The manuscript also contains poetry, prose tales and an Irish grammar. It came to the Academy as part of the Windele Collection, purchased in 1865.

Later RIA acquisitions

RIA MS 23 L 48 (Cat. No. 925), a miscellaneous collection of songs, compiled by John O’Daly (purchased from the library of Mary E. Byrne, 1931).

RIA MS 24 C 43 (Cat. No. 1173), miscellany penned by John O’Daly, 1827–1828, (presented to the RIA by R.A.S. Macalister, MRIA, 1942).

RIA MS 24 C 56 (Cat. No. 1186), eighteenth- and nineteenth-century miscellany, including items penned by John O’Daly (Macalister Collection, 24).

Provenance not confirmed in printed Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy

RIA MS 3 B 24 (Cat. No. 292), a life of St Margaret, penned by John O’Daly in 1845–1847, mostly derived from a manuscript written by William Ambrós in 1798 (acquired by RIA on 15/5/1877, according to date on front endpapers added by J.J. MacSweeney).

RIA MS 3 C 10 (Cat. No. 766), a verse compilation, largely religious in nature, penned by John O’Daly in the 1850s.

RIA MS 23 H 34 (Cat. No. 718), a verse compilation penned by a variety of scribes including John O’Daly at Kilkenny in 1844. Includes an Irish translation by John O’Daly of Charles Gavan Duffy’s poem ‘Voice of Labour’. Formerly owned by James Hardiman.

RIA MS 23 K 2 (Cat. No. 157), is a transcript of Eachtra Chonuill Ghulbain made by John O’Daly, dated 1825. Formerly owned by Patrick Finn.

RIA MS 23 K 52 (Cat. No. 159), a collection of modern verse, apparently penned by John O’Daly. Charles MacCarthy’s name appears as a probable owner.

RIA MS 23 O 43 (Cat. No. 160), a collection of verse penned by John O’Daly in Dublin in 1845.

Following his death in May 1878, John O’Daly’s extensive book collection, together with some remaining manuscripts, was auctioned over three days in August 1878, at the premises of John Fleming Jones, 8 D’Olier Street, and dispersed. A priced copy of the auction catalogue issued by John Fleming Jones is held by the Academy Library.

A comprehensive list of manuscripts in the hand of John O’Daly that are preserved in other Irish and overseas archives, can be found in Ó Drisceoil (2007), pp. 347–392.