The Catechismus of Theobald Stapleton. Reflex Facsimiles IV : Catechismvs, Sev Doctrina Christiana Latino-Hibernica. Dublin: The Stationery Office, 1945. Pp 2, 168. Quarter cloth, red paper boards. Spinme faded, contetns in fine condition.

Foreword by John F. Dogherty.

 A small grammar in nineteen sections, with guidelines for reading Irish, is appended to the work. The Latin and Irish texts are printed in parallel columns on each page, with simplified spelling employed in the Irish translation in order to make the text more comprehensible for the common people of Ireland.

Theobald Stapleton’s (1589-1647) Catechismus, dedicated to Ferdinand, infante of Spain, was a pioneering work; its Irish text, printed in Roman rather than Gaelic type, provides an indication of the dialectical usage of Irish in the early seventeenth century.