The library was built for the Most Rev. Narcissus Marsh, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and formerly Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. It was long claimed that the Library opened in 1701, but this is untrue. The Cathedral agreed in 1701 to provide a plot of land for a library, but building work only commenced in 1703. The First Gallery and the Old Reading Room seem to have been completed by 1705. The Library was formally established by an Act of the Irish Parliament in 1707, and the Second Gallery was added in 1708 or 1709. The design was by the then Surveyor General of Ireland, Sir William Robinson, also the architect of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Marsh donated his own library, which included the former library of Bishop Edward Stillingfleet, of over 10,000 volumes, regarded as one of the finest in England, which he had bought for 2,500 pounds. Dr. Elias Bouhereau, a Huguenot refugee from La Rochelle who fled from France after the Revocation of the edict of Nantes, was the first librarian or Keeper, and also donated his personal library. The Library was formally incorporated in 1707 by Parliament, which vested the house and books in a body known as the Governors and Guardians of the Library, comprising religious and state dignitaries and officials, and their successors still oversee it. Narcissus Marsh died in 1713, and is buried just beyond the library, in the grounds of the cathedral. In 1745, John Stearne, Bishop of Clogher, bequeathed half of his collection of books to the library. The other half of Stearne's book collection were given to Trinity College, Dublin.
Recent history
In 1989, Muriel McCarthy became the first female Keeper, holding the position until her retirement in 2011. The current Keeper is Dr Jason McElligott, who was educated at University College Dublin and St John's College, Cambridge. When the Guinness family sold Farmleigh House to the State, the Benjamin Iveagh Library was donated to Marsh's Library, although its documents remain housed at Farmleigh. The catalogue of the library is online at www.marshlibrary.ie/catalogue. Scholars and students can read the books and manuscripts by appointment. Tourists come from across the world to see the old library, and in 2013 there were a total of 16,000 tourist visitors. The figure for 2014 was 17,000 visitors. 2015 saw a rise in visitors to 23,000 people.
Holdings
The library contains over 25,000 books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, in addition to around 300 manuscripts, and around 80 books from before 1501. Subjects covered include medicine, law, science, travel, navigation, mathematics, music, surveying and classical literature, and especially theology. The Marsh collection includes works in oriental languages, and in Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish and Russian, as well as an important collection of Latin Judaica. The Bouhéreau collection relates especially to France, and French religious controversies, and also medicine. Among the manuscripts is a volume of the Lives of the Irish Saints in Latin from ca. 1400, as well as 16th century madrigals and other musical pieces, and manuscripts on theological, legal and medical matters.
Interior design
The library still features its original fittings, including seating and shelving. The bookcases are made of quarter-plained Baltic oak with carved and lettered gables. In some of the bookcases there are bullet holes from the Easter Rising when Jacob's Biscuit factory next door was occupied. There are three wire alcoves, known as 'cages', which came into use in the 1770s in response to thefts in the library.
Today
The library is one of the last 18th-century buildings in Ireland still used for its original purpose. It is open to visitors for a fee of €5, or €3 for students and senior citizens. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic the opening hours have changed. Hours are now 11:30-4:30 Tuesday to Saturday, with 10:30-11:30 reserved on weekdays for people who are cocooning and for frontline staff on Saturday. Researchers are admitted free of charge, but must apply in advance to reserve a place in the Reading Room. The reading room is expected to be closed until October 1st 2020. The Library holds exhibitions, and occasional conferences, and has published a range of material, primarily related to exhibitions and the catalogue. As a charitable institution the library accepts donations, which are recorded in a special ledger which dates back to 1707. The Library has an active social media presence, and every day posts at least one image from the collections on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. These images give a sense of the breadth and depth of the Library holdings.
