LEEPER, Rev. Alexander. Historical Handbook of the Monuments, Inscriptions, &c., of the National Collegiate and Cathedral Church of S. Patrick, Dublin.

Illustrated with a folding ground plan of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Folding Pedigree of Archbishop Smyth and decorative woodcut headpieces and initials. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, Grafton Street, 1878. First edition. Crown octavo. pp. [ix], 10-74. Titlepage printed in red and black. Contemporary full purple morocco, title in gilt on upper cover.
Presentation copy, inscribed on front endpaper: “Presented to James Charles / by the Author. 1878.” All edges gilt. Lightly rubbed at edges, occasional light spotting, chiefly to preliminaries. Corner of front endpaper cut. A very good copy. Scarce.
A scarce and authoritative nineteenth-century guide to St Patrick’s Cathedral, written by Alexander Leeper, Prebendary of St Audoen’s and Canon of St Patrick’s. Leeper’s Historical Handbook was intended both as a practical guide for visitors and as a serious antiquarian survey, combining architectural history, ecclesiastical chronology, and detailed accounts of the cathedral’s monuments, inscriptions, and memorials. The folding ground plan, showing the precise location of monuments and windows, was a particularly useful feature and reflects the preoccupation with ordered historical documentation.
The work occupies an important place in the historiography of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

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