THAT WOMAN! Studies in Irish Bibliography. A Festschrift for Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard. Edited by Charles Benson & Siobhán Fitzpatrick.

Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 2005. For the Library Association of Ireland, Rare Books Group. Royal 8vo. Publisher’s dark green cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt; in original cream dust-jacket printed in sepia. Pp. [xvi], 310, with list of subscribers, bibliography of Pollard’s publications, index, and illustrations list. A fine, bright copy.

A substantial scholarly tribute to Mary ‘Paul’ Pollard, one of the central figures in Irish bibliography and rare book librarianship. The volume gathers essays by leading historians and bibliographers, including studies of early Irish printing, the Dublin book trade, cathedral libraries, and eighteenth-century publishing networks. Contributors include Máire Kennedy, Raymond Gillespie, Toby Barnard, W.J. McCormack, and others, reflecting the breadth of Pollard’s influence.

Of particular note are essays on George Grierson and the Dublin printing trade, Irish cathedral libraries before 1700, and children’s books in eighteenth-century Ireland—subjects closely aligned with Pollard’s own pioneering work. The inclusion of a detailed bibliography of her publications enhances the volume’s reference value.

A well-produced and important contribution to modern Irish bibliographical scholarship, issued in a relatively small print run and increasingly sought after by collectors of Irish book history and the history of printing.

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