The Schools And Scholars Of Breiffne. Dublin: Brian & Nolan, 1942. Pp xi, 669. Publisher’s red cloth, title lettered in gilt to spine. Illustrated with twenty-five plates (note: lacks four maps at end). A fine copy.

A scholarly work on the bards of the pre-Christian era to the hedge-schoolmasters of modern times.

Philip O’Connell was a member of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland and a founder member of the Breifne Antiquarian Society in 1920. He became editor in 1926 and contributed to each of the nine journals published. In 1937 he published ‘The Diocese of Kilmore’, and in 1942 ‘The Schools and Scholars of Breifne’, which earned him a Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland.