The Irish Book Trade in the Romantic Period

Abstract

The six decades from 1770 to 1830, a period contemporaneous with the development of a Romantic movement in literary culture, saw the Irish book trade undergo profound change. In overall terms the demand for books and periodicals grew; there was an increase in literacy rates consequent upon greater provision of schools. At the start of the 1770s large quantities of books were being produced for home consumption, and an export trade to North America grew substantially in the 1780s. There was also a rising amount of importation of books, principally from Great Britain. By the 1830s the book trade was primarily one of distribution, heavily dependent upon imports and producing comparatively little indigenous material.