Limerick Its History and Antiquities. Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military, from the earliest ages, with Copious Historical, Archaeological, Topographical, and Genealogical Notes and Illustrations; Maps, Plates and Appendices, and a Alphabetical Index, Etc. Compiled from the Ancient Annals, the most Authentic MS. and printed Records, Recent Researches, etc. Dublin: Duffy, 1866. First Edition. Pp xv, 798. Rebacked in publisher’s green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, decorative boarder in blind to upper & lower covers, with city coat-of-arms to centre. Shelf-wear to boards, heavy foxing to frontispiece folded map & title page, contents pages generally clean & bright.

Folded frontispiece map of Limerick City, with nine plates in the text.

After a long lifetime’s work as a journalist and editor, Maurice Lenihan died in poverty in Limerick in 1895. This his first major work of ‘no inconsiderable toil’ was first published in 1866 (a second edition with additions appeared in 1884) but it was not until after his death that the book began to attract attention. Many little known aspects of the history of Limerick are to be found in the all embracing footnotes.