Sir, - Further to Rosemary Mulcahy's letter about the effective closure of the art library in the National Gallery, interested readers may like to know that the Art Room of the Central Catholic Library, while not as extensive as that on the other side of the square, contains several thousand books covering all periods and areas of art and architecture, from prehistoric to modern.
The collection includes such things as copy of Strickland's Dictionary of Irish Artists (presented by T.U. Sadlier), with manuscript corrections and annotations by the author towards a second edition that was never published.
As we are marking our 75th anniversary this year, we are anxious that this large and wide-ranging collection, which covers all aspects of the humanities, with special reference to Ireland, becomes better known to readers. Like the London Library, this is a subscription library run by an incorporated association. There is a small annual fee, but our 90,000 books and 400 journals may well be worth investigations by researchers in many fields besides art history. - Yours, etc.,
Peter Costello,
Hon. Librarian, The Central Catholic Library, 74 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.