The fifth Earl Spencer was lord lieutenant of Ireland twice (1868-71, 1882-5). It was a problematic office, combing both symbolic, constitutional aspects with an administrative role that could embroil it in politics. On the first occasion Spencer managed to save the office from political controversy. On the second, during the politically turbulent 1880s, he was given an explicit mandate to act as a governing lord lieutenant. This effectively produced the appearance of a bifurcated government with the Liberal government at Westminster able psychologically to distance itself from the Irish Executive under Spencer. Equally, the Irish Parliamentary Party, effected a bifurcated opposition. This work continues the argument of the author's 2001 book, Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarch in Ireland during the Reign of Queen Victoria, that in nineteenth-century Ireland, political affinity with Britain was damaged by the sacrifice for short-term political ends of constitutional offices (such as the monarchy and lord lieutenancy) that were important for bolstering that affinity.This ground-breaking study, exploring the career intricacies of lord lieutenant Earl Spencer, sheds new light on an area of Irish History, as of yet, largely unexplored.

The eruption of rural distress in Ireland and the foundation of the Land League in 1879 sparked a number of novels, stories and plays forming an immediate response to what became known as the Irish Land war. These works form a literary genre of their own and illuminate both the historical events themselves and the material conditions of reading and writing in late nineteenth-century Ireland. Divisions into 'us' and 'them' were convenient for political reasons, but the fiction of the period frequently modifies this alignment and draws attention to the complexity of the land problem. This collection includes studies of canonical land war novels, publication channels, collaborations between artists and authors, literary conventions and the interplay between personal experience and literary output. It also includes unique resources such as a reprinted letter by the author Mary Anne Sadlier and a reproduction of Rosa Mulholland's little-known play Our Boycotting. The book concludes with a detailed bibliography of land war fiction between 1879 and 1916, which should inspire further reading and research into the genre.

The Oxford History of the Irish Book is a major new series that charts one of the most venerable book cultures in Europe, from the earliest manuscript compilations to the flourishing book industries of the late twentieth century. For the first time, it offers a history of the Irish book as a created object situated in a world of communications, trade, transport, power, and money, and examines the ways in which books have both reflected and influenced social, political, and intellectual formations in Ireland. It is an important project for the understanding of Ireland's written and printed heritage, and is by its nature of profound cross-cultural significance, embracing as it does all the written and printed traditions and heritages of Ireland and placing them in the global context of a worldwide interest in book histories.
Volume III: The Irish Book in English 1800-1890 details the story of the book in Ireland from the Act of Union, which ended Ireland's lucrative exemption from British copyright, to the Irish revival, with its emphasis on cultural nationalism. Though retaining its own identity during this period the Irish publishing industry also participated in a wider British publishing culture, less perhaps the result of political change than the result of the industrialization of production. The chapters in this volume deal with book production and distribution and the differing of ways in which publishing existed in Dublin, Belfast, and the provinces. The nineteenth century saw a dramatic rise in literacy rates in Ireland, the advent of national education, and the development of new opportunities and spaces for reading that eclipsed previous communal reading practices. Religious publishing was a major enterprise not only because of the rise in devotionalism but also because of the religious controversies that raged in the early part of the century. Literary genres engaged both Irish and British audiences with Irish issues, though they found a publishing outlet largely through London publishers. Scholarly societies of both the antiquarian and scientific varieties sustained a relatively high degree of local publishing, mostly through journals. Medical and musical publishing appeared for quite a while to defy the centralizing pull of British publishing. In spite of the challenges of the times, writers, publishers, readers, and institutions often responded with energy and creativity to a world of extraordinary change. It was a world of considerable diversity and great fascination. Relying on a high degree of original research, both archival and bibliographical, this volume treats both general trends and individual stories.

This volume consists of the proceedings of the tenth international conference of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-century Ireland, held in Dublin in June 2002. It contains articles by scholars specializing in the Anglo-Irish literary revival, the Gaelic League and other movements which together constituted that cultural movement from the 1880s to the 1920s which has become known as the Irish revival. Essays focus on some of the key issues in the study of the revival today. They include the ways in which participants in the revival were both conscious fashioners and critics of its later image and the positioning of movements within the revival, from theosophy to agricultural cooperation. Neglected material aspects of the revival from museums to clothing are also tackled, as is the issue of the urban settings for the revival in Dublin, Belfast and London. Finally, considerable attention is paid to what can be learned from individuals previously deemed peripheral and from fresh historical perspectives on some of the key texts of the literary revival.

Scholars of history and literature from Britain and the US as well as Ireland look at a period when often antagonistic religious movements had a profound effect on Irish culture. They cover the devotional revolution revisited, Protestant anxiety in the age of Catholic emancipation, configuring Catholicism, international perspectives, and evangelica

This late 19th century novel was one of the first to deal with crime and punishment in Ireland, as well as a host of other issues from a feminist as well as socially progressive point of view. Long out of print, Professor Murphy makes the case for its inclusion in the canon of Irish literature via a superbly written Introduction and an extensive series of notes and text discussions. Full text reproduced.