WRIGHT, Rev. G.N. A Guide to the Lakes of Killarney.

Illustrated by engravings, after the design of George Petrie. London: Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 1822. First edition. 12mo. pp. viii, 97, [2] (index). Contemporary full polished calf, covers framed by double gilt fillets and a blind floral roll. Spines richly gilt with gilt crest and monogram ‘RT.’ Original papered boards. Spine neatly rebacked. Armorial bookplate of General Honble Robert Taylor on front pastedown. Also from the library of Percy Paley of Castlehacket. A near fine and very attractive copy. Rare.
Plates: Turk Lake, Ross Castle, The Eagle’s Nest, Mac Gilly Cuddy’s Reeks from Aghadoe, Interior of Mucruss Abbey and Map of the Lakes.

George Newenham Wright, (c.1794-1877), schoolmaster, topographical writer and Anglican clergyman, was probably
born in London, the son of John Thomas Wright, a surgeon of Great Ship Street, Dublin. He graduated B.A. from
Trinity College in 1814 and M.A. in 1817. He held several curacies in Ireland before moving to St. Mary Woolnoth in
London. By 1851, he was a teacher of classics, resident in Windsor. In 1863 he was master of Tewkesbury Grammar
School. Wright is remembered for his topographical writings and from the 1820s to the 1840s he published many
topographical works and schoolbooks on subjects ranging from the Greek language to biography and philosophy. There
were several books on Ireland. Illustrated with engravings made from drawings by George Petrie, each contains
topographical information systematically arranged and draws from the personal knowledge of the author as well as from
the usual reference works. The guides to Killarney, Wicklow and the Giant’s Causeway were the first of the genre and
were intended, Wright stated “to induce more frequent visits from the neighbouring island.”
Provenance: From the library of General Robert Taylor (1760-1839) styled The Honourable from birth. He was an Irish
soldier and politician, the third son of Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective and his wife Jane Rowley, daughter of
Hercules Langford Rowley and Elizabeth Rowley, 1st Viscountess Langford. His older brother was Thomas Taylour,
1st Marquess of Headfort and his younger brother was Clotworthy Rowley, 1st Baron Langford.
Taylor entered the British Army as a cornet in the 5th Dragoons in 1783. He purchased his lieutenancy in 1784 and captaincy in 1785. In June 1790 he purchased his commission as a major, and as a lieutenant-colonel in 1792. He served
with his regiment first in Ireland, then from 1793 in the French Revolutionary Wars in Flanders and Germany, being
brevetted colonel in 1796. During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 Taylor was promoted to brigadier-general in Ireland, and
was second in command in the Battle of Ballinamuck, where he was mentioned in dispatches by his superior, General
Lake. In 1801, he became major-general, and saw service in Ireland from 1803 to 1808, when he became a lieutenant-
general. Taylor was brevetted a full general in August 1819 and received the colonelcy of the 6th Regiment of
Dragoons Guards two years later.
In 1790, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Kells, the same constituency his father and his older brother
Hercules had represented before, and sat as Member of Parliament (MP) until 1800. Taylor or Taylour died at
Davestown unmarried and childless.

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