SHIRLEY, Evelyn Philip. The History of the County of Monaghan. RARE FIRST EDITION SIGNED FROM THE AUTHOR

With coloured frontispiece and other illustrations and genealogical tables. London: Pickering, 1879. Folio. pp. xvi, 619. Original quarter vellum parchment on original blue paper boards. Title on printed label on spine. Signed on front free endpaper ‘From the Author’ to William Bermingham. A near fine copy. Very rare.

It was in the study of history and antiquity that Shirley’s real interests lay, and in his library at Lough Fea he acquired and developed one of the finest private collections in Ireland, which numbered around 3,000 distinct titles in 1872. The library included a range of manuscripts in both Irish and English, as well as hundreds of pamphlets relating to the church of Ireland, the Act of Union, and the revolution of 1688. The most important part of his collection was perhaps the fourteen volumes containing approximately 300 quarto tracts detailing the 1641 rebellion. He added to this collection over the ten years before his death.
This private collection formed the basis for Shirley’s own research and his many publications. He
concentrated at first on the history of the Shirley family The Annals of the Shirley Family (1841); The Shirley Brothers (1848) and local history and topography in Monaghan Some Account of the Territory of Farney, Ulster (1846). He published a description of his own house and estate in Monaghan in Lough Fea, printed privately in London in 1859. Much of this work on his family and Monaghan was incorporated into the wider History of County Monaghan, published in five parts between 1859 and 1877. His reputation as an antiquarian of note was also demonstrated by the positions he held within educational and learned societies. He was a trustee of Rugby School and the National Portrait Gallery, as well as being an FSA. It is believed that Benjamin Disraeli portrayed him as Mr Ardenne in Lothair, describing him as a ‘man of ancient pedigree himself, who knew everyone else’s, which was not always pleasant’. Shirley died 19 September 1882 from apoplexy at his home in Warwickshire. He had rebuilt his family home in the high Gothic style between 1858 and 1862.
Undoubtedly one of the best county histories ever written, with extensive delineations of the baronies, topography, and genealogy of the principal families of the county. The author was fortunate to have the assistance of the great Irish scholars, O’Donovan and O’Curry, and access to the State Papers which at that time warranted the sanction of the Secretary of State. Dedicated to the noble and gentlemen of Monaghan, this work in illustration of the country of the Little Hills, is respectfully inscribed by the author.

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