The Bolton Library is an early modern cathedral collection housed at the University of Limerick. It contains 12,000 rare books, incunabula and manuscripts dating from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. Now fully preserved, catalogued, and ready for research, it offers scholars unparalleled primary sources in Irish history, theology, literature, and the early printed tradition.

The Bolton Library is of exceptional academic and bibliographic importance. Accumulated by two bishops – Archbishop William King and Bishop Theophilus Bolton – in the early eighteenth century, the Library reflects interests, knowledge and concerns at that time as they sought to build a library to encompass as much as possible of humanity’s knowledge of the world.

The history of science, technology and medicine is strongly represented in the collection, as is Irish history in the 1640–1660 period. It includes a number of manuscripts, the most significant of which is a medieval encyclopedia from 1168–1220, and a missal which is one of only three examples of hand written missals in Ireland prior to 1500. The collection presents numerous possibilities for research and historical study and will offer a valuable means of providing readers with access to rare materials that can enrich their learning.

 

Conservation

Despite the best efforts of the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory, the Dean of Cashel, the Bolton Board of Management, the University of Limerick, Cashel Heritage, the Heritage Council and the OPW many of the oldest and most valuable items in the collection were at real risk of being lost. For over two decades it was not possible to provide the necessary environmental control and management in Cashel and the condition of the books deteriorated severely over time.

The Representative Church Body of the Church of Ireland placed the collection in the care of the University of Limerick and the books have now been relocated to the Glucksman Library’s Special Collections Department. Here, they will be appropriately preserved in a humidity and temperature controlled environment, with secure monitoring and management.

 

The cataloguing of the collection was completed in 2025, while the conservation and digitisation of the collection is ongoing. To make an appointment to view the Bolton Library material in the Special Collections and Archives reading room, please email specoll@ul.ie.

Search the collection on the Library catalogue

Browse digitised items from the Bolton Library on the UL Digital Library

Read the Bolton Library research guide

Explore blog posts and other updates from the Bolton Library

Please get in touch with us directly if you have any questions or comments. 

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