SOME OF the most important books from the Trinity College library - part of the Fagel Collection - will go on public view this evening.
The collection, which has been the subject of a major international symposium in the college that concludes tomorrow, was acquired by Trinity just before it went up for auction in London in 1802. The books, pamphlets and maps had been gathered over the previous 200 years by the distinguished Dutch family, who had to flee the Netherlands during the Napoleonic Wars.
Trinity's purchase of 20,000 items transformed its library, which had been dominated by theology, into a major holding on a broad range of subjects.
These include history, politics, law, belles lettres, geography, cartography, natural history and philosophy, published in the principal languages of Europe.
Highlights include its botanical masterpieces, notable both for the scientific discoveries documented and for technical innovations in colour printing. Nature's bounty: botanical beauties in Trinity College Librarywill open in the Long Room of the Old Library tonight.
The symposium was co-ordinated by TCD's department of Germanic studies in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies under the aegis of Trinity's Long Room Hub,