Irish Literary Gazette. A weekly Journal of National Literature, Criticism, Fiction, Industry, Science, and Art. Vol. 1- Number 1 (Saturday, August 1, 1857) to Vol. 2 Number 43 (Saturday, May 22, 1858). All issues bound together in one volume. Ornate masthead featuring an engraving of Irish harp and wolfhound, against a background of an abbey and round tour. Occasional engravings throughout. Original quarter calf spine, in recent marbled boards.

The first 43 issues of this weekly periodical. From volume 2, number 23-26 the title was expanded to ‘Irish Literary Gazette and National Reformer,’ with the addition of ‘New Series’ in brackets.

The Irish Literary Gazette began as a weekly in August of 1857 and became a monthly form July 1858. It was established with the express purpose of ‘encouraging native talent and native literature of a high class,’ though its main sales pitch (stated in the third issue) was that Irish readers should support it ‘in preference to the numerous periodicals necessarily imported from the other side of the channel.’ One of the strongest Irish aspects of the content came in the form of topographical sketches, which included historical and descriptive accounts of Irish towns, with notices of geology and botany also common. From October 1857 many of the illustrations within the text adorned these articles and other content. However the Irish Literary Gazette failed to distinguish itself as a specifically Irish periodical as it remained heavily reliant on the reprinted text of the major British titles of the day.