first edition
1868 · Dublin
by Board of Public Works
Dublin: Printed by Alexander Thom [for H.M.S.O.], 1868. First Edition. Fair. Folio (330 x 215 mm). Uniform title-page (1 f.), Instructions (7 pp.), Addendum No. I (11 pp. + 1 plan), Addendum No. II (1 f., 20 pp., followed by stubs of 20 [?] excised plates), Addendum No. III (1 f., 3 pp. + 9 PLATES), Addendum No. IV (1 f., 3 pp.). Uniform title-page SOILED. Original printed wrappers, WORN AND SOILED, spine partially defective. RARE, UNKNOWN "BLUE BOOK" OF PROPOSED REMEDIES FOR THE AGRICULTURAL, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC CRISIS IN IRELAND DURING THE FAMINE, CONTAINING COLOR-PRINTED DESIGNS FOR THE HOUSES OF IRISH AGRICULTURAL LABORERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
The articles in the present volume document the urgent programs initiated by the Irish Board of Works, allowing for the application of loans to improve lands and by extension save lives. We have found only a single copy of this remarkable book worldwide (National Library of Ireland) and only a single reference to it anywhere, namely in a contemporary review in the 27 November 1869 issue of Gardeners' Chronicle (p. 1243) which reads in full:
"Here is an official 'Blue Book,' as we should call it, but that it is stitched in a brown paper cover, which contains the true remedy for Irish agricultural, and much of Irish social, distress. While great names and great principles are being marshalled as leaders in our contact with the knotty problem, here is the humble serving man "-the representative of rank and fileon whom the great burden of the fight after all must rest. Irish properties, the worst equipped as a rule of any estate property in the United Kingdom, can have their wants supplied more cheaply than any other. The advantages are attainable with less of permanent burdens than in England or in Scotland. And in this volume there is offer not only of help but of guidance. In successive addenda, giving most admirable plans and sections and elevations, the fullest specifications and information are offered for the guidance and assistance of proprietors obtaining loans for the erection of farm buildings and of cottages. We do a real service to English proprietors, also, by letting them know of the existence of so much useful information in so compendious and accessible a form."
The plates, and some of the text, were later reprinted in the 1872 "Reports from Poor Law Inspectors in Ireland: In Puruance of Instructions Dated 9th May, 1872 [...] for the Purpose of Obtaining Information on the Subject of Laborers' Dwellings in that Country, Together with Copy of Those Instructions; a General Summary and Abstract of the Reports." No copy of said book is currently available on the market.
Addendum No. 2 was apparently issued with 20 plates, judging by the references in the text itself. In the present copy these were torn out and only stubs remain. Nonetheless, it is offered here priced accordingly and -- we believe -- correctly, as it contains three Addenda, of which No. III contains 20 color-printed designs of labourers' houses on 9 plates.
OF GREAT RARITY. (Inventory #: 4173)
The articles in the present volume document the urgent programs initiated by the Irish Board of Works, allowing for the application of loans to improve lands and by extension save lives. We have found only a single copy of this remarkable book worldwide (National Library of Ireland) and only a single reference to it anywhere, namely in a contemporary review in the 27 November 1869 issue of Gardeners' Chronicle (p. 1243) which reads in full:
"Here is an official 'Blue Book,' as we should call it, but that it is stitched in a brown paper cover, which contains the true remedy for Irish agricultural, and much of Irish social, distress. While great names and great principles are being marshalled as leaders in our contact with the knotty problem, here is the humble serving man "-the representative of rank and fileon whom the great burden of the fight after all must rest. Irish properties, the worst equipped as a rule of any estate property in the United Kingdom, can have their wants supplied more cheaply than any other. The advantages are attainable with less of permanent burdens than in England or in Scotland. And in this volume there is offer not only of help but of guidance. In successive addenda, giving most admirable plans and sections and elevations, the fullest specifications and information are offered for the guidance and assistance of proprietors obtaining loans for the erection of farm buildings and of cottages. We do a real service to English proprietors, also, by letting them know of the existence of so much useful information in so compendious and accessible a form."
The plates, and some of the text, were later reprinted in the 1872 "Reports from Poor Law Inspectors in Ireland: In Puruance of Instructions Dated 9th May, 1872 [...] for the Purpose of Obtaining Information on the Subject of Laborers' Dwellings in that Country, Together with Copy of Those Instructions; a General Summary and Abstract of the Reports." No copy of said book is currently available on the market.
Addendum No. 2 was apparently issued with 20 plates, judging by the references in the text itself. In the present copy these were torn out and only stubs remain. Nonetheless, it is offered here priced accordingly and -- we believe -- correctly, as it contains three Addenda, of which No. III contains 20 color-printed designs of labourers' houses on 9 plates.
OF GREAT RARITY. (Inventory #: 4173)