Sir, - We would like to respond to Mr Antoin Daltun's letter in your column (February 26th), in which he deplores that volume I of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, published by the Royal Irish Academy at a cost of £95, is not affordable, in his own words, to the plain people of Ireland. He will be pleased to learn that we also publish each town in a separate fascicle costing between £15-£18. The bound volume, containing six towns, is intended to secure a lasting presence of this reference work in major libraries in Ireland, and around the world.
We are of course delighted with Mr Daltun's expression of interest in this publication. The atlas is part of a larger European project designed to lead to a greater understanding of a common European heritage by comparative urban studies. But, unlike in Continental countries, our atlas is produced on a shoestring. The contributors and editors give their work free of charge and we only have one full time cartographical editor who is also the general administrator.
Producing atlases is an expensive business, and we are most grateful to the Royal IRISH Academy for taking on the project and to the Ordinance Surveys, North and South, for fostering. Without the good will of these institutions, Ireland would probably not have a historic towns atlas at all.
With the exception of Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (2 vols, 1837), which is great for the 19th century, we have no topographical dictionary in Ireland as these exist in continental countries. Our atlas has risen to the challenge and introduces each town with a precise reference to the first appearance and subsequent development of the major topographical features in each town as well as providing detailed cartographical information. This supplies (as Dr Pat Wallace put it in his review) a detailed factual and cartographic bedrock on which future generations of urban historians can build their studies.
And, last but not least the two towns which we have done in the aftermath of Volume I are Maynooth and Downpatrick. Many more are in the pipeline. - Yours etc.,
(University College, Dublin)
(University College, Dublin),
(St Patrick's College,
Maynooth)
(Joint editors, 1997).