The Roman philosopher Cicero wrote “if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need” and it’s a sentiment I fully endorse. The American Library Association reckons that 5,000 books is enough to call a book collection a library. On that basis my home is a library and yes, a garden completes my needs.
As a compulsive reader, however, I still love visiting other libraries, particularly historic ones. There’s some debate about which is the oldest library in the world. St. Catherine’s Monastery Library in Egypt has been going strong since 548 C.E., but Marsh’s Library in Dublin, Ireland is that special thing, a public library bringing the joy of books to all and in the English-speaking world Marsh’s Library is second only to Chatham’s Library in Manchester, England (founded 1653).
Having grown up a bookworm in Dublin, I’m ashamed to admit to overlooking Ireland’s oldest public library, until recently when researching the early years of publishing reminded me of this amazing resource on my doorstep. Marsh’s Library opened to the public in 1707 and it remains in its original eighteenth century building, tucked away down a side road beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral which dates to 1191.
Many of the hop-on-hop-off tourist buses pass their door. Tourists visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Dublinia Viking Museum, or Christchurch Cathedral (founded in 1030 by the Viking King Sitric) can easily add Marsh’s to their trip as they are two minutes walk away. For visitors to the city I wouldn’t recommend driving to the library as there’s no parking and a complex one-way system to navigate. Use public transport if you can.
In my case I arrived by train into the city and then walked from Tara Street station, past the beautiful front of Trinity College (founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I), and up Dame Street. The uphill walk takes about 20 minutes but you may need a street finding app to get you to the library’s door.
Unless you get caught behind a tour group you can then saunter into the library. It’s worth noting that if your group includes a wheelchair user, the library is not accessible due to the historic Queen Anne style building containing several flights of stairs, including a spiral set. However, parents who need help with carrying prams can contact the staff by telephone (01-4543511) and they’re happy to assist. In fact children are encouraged with a Lego mini figure scavenger hunt and a little activity area for them. The library also provides guided group tours and school visits but they should be booked in advance via https://marshlibrary.ie/visit/group-visit/.
The library is set back from the narrow road, through a gothic stone archway and up curving stone steps. The moment you step through that archway you know you’re visiting somewhere unique.
After two flights of stairs you will be met by the friendly staff who guided me through buying a ticket and provided a self-guided tour leaflet. They’re very open to questions from visitors about their main displays as well as their current exhibition. The exhibitions rotate every few months to allow visitors to enjoy some of the gems from their collection up close.
I’m sure the staff are used to my reaction upon entering the main library. I was so busy admiring the library, quietly lit from large windows admitting daylight, that I barely heard their welcomes.
The library was founded by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh (1638–1713) as the first Irish library open to all. Marsh was born in England, educated at Oxford, and was a scholar of Hebrew, astronomy, mathematics, and music. He became a Church of England clergyman, then Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and later a bishop, archbishop, and ended his career as Primate of Armagh.
He declared that the books available to the Dublin public were only “trifles and pamphlets” and commissioned the building of the library, inspired architecturally by Oxford’s Bodleian, in a garden (Cicero would approve) and hired Frenchman Élie Bouhéreau, a Huguenot, as librarian.
Bouhéreau added his own collection to the library and lived on the ground floor. Marsh bought more books, added his own books, including a first edition of Newton’s “Optics”, and the library opened in 1707, with Jonathan Swift (author of “Gulliver’s Travels” and Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral) as one of the trustees.
Many famous writers have used the Queen Anne style library since. Bram Stoker, then a student at Trinity, read there in 1866, including travel books about Transylvania which must have helped him write “Dracula”. In 1902 James Joyce used the library and mentioned it in his masterpiece “Ulysses”. The library was damaged during the Easter Rising in 1916, with British machine gun fire breaking windows and shredding some of Bouhéreau’s tomes, causing the librarian of the time to mourn his “poor wounded books”.
The library isn’t as large as you might expect from its long history and hence your visit is likely to take an hour or less. There are two galleries of books, a small reading room, a tempting gift shop, and an outside area.
The first gallery (pictured at top) is beautiful, and not just because it’s packed with antique books in elegant leather bindings. The dark oak book cases themselves are works of art, complete with the ladders all book lovers yearn for to reach the higher volumes. Each has a gilded sign on the aisle with a letter to help the librarians locate specific tomes, and a large sash window to illuminate the quiet space.
Sadly I didn’t get to try the library ladders as the shelves themselves are behind those red-ropes so common in museums, but now that I know you can request books for use in the reading room, I’ve vowed to return to read some of them for my research. After all there aren’t many places where you can browse books printed as early as 1472 in Italy, or astronomy manuscripts written in Irish around 1400.
You will love being surrounded by the warm, comforting scent of ancient leather bindings and paper, and the sense that you have stepped into history. In fact there are words for this love and I should know given that I write books about the history of words and am currently researching one about the words storytelling and publishing gave us.
The first is vellichor, coined in 2013 by author John Koenig for “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows”. It describes the wistfulness of used bookstores. Marsh’s Library invokes this emotion with ease. The second is bibliosmia, coined in 2014, by author Oliver Tearle by combining the Greek words for book (biblion) and smell (osme) to describe that beloved vanilla-ish smell produced by the pages of ageing books. The librarians in Marsh’s don’t encourage visitors to sniff their precious volumes but yes, as I walked around I enjoyed the soft aromas of old oak furniture, soft leather bindings, and a touch of bibliosmia.
When I visited in November 2025, their exhibition (these change regularly) was on the topic of gold, specifically the ornately bound, gold-embossed gems of their collection. Some had been given as prizes to students at Trinity College, others belonged to wealthy readers and the explanatory notes showed the tools the Dublin book-binders used to apply the gold leaf.
The books displayed as examples were stunning in their detailed ornamentation and came from the book collection of Benjamin Guinness, the 3rd Earl of Iveagh (1937-1992). Yes, he was part of that famous brewing family, but not the one featured in the recent “House of Guinness” TV series. As you walk back to Christchurch Cathedral from the library you will pass some of the social housing still run today by the Iveagh Trust, funded by the Guinness family whose Dublin brewery is nearby.
After admiring the exhibition items in the Reading Room - a simple space with large tables - I moved on to the second gallery. This one is north-facing and always a little colder, which has prompted claims of a resident library ghost but I didn’t encounter any spirits, just more wonderful bookcases filled with books, many of them rare and on language and science topics. There are even plays and poetry books. This gallery ends in the highlight of the tour for me - the reading cages.
Yes, cages. Earlier librarians discovered over a thousand of their valuable books had walked off with light-fingered readers, so they installed three metal and wood enclosures across the final three bays in this gallery. The cages may be elegant and topped with wonderful ornate wooden carvings, but those doors are lockable and yes, they are cages. Readers would be locked inside to pursue their reading until released by the librarians. Somebody with a sense of humour has placed a skull in one of them, but no reader stayed that long, I hope.
Beside the cages there was an area for younger visitors to create a Lego key to unlock the cages. I was tempted to join in the crafting, but decided to leave it to the youngsters.
After the reading cages I took the spiral stairs down to the small gift shop, where book-fans will be tempted by bookmarks, badges, posters, and even candles, inspired by the collections. My purse was much lighter when I left. The bathrooms for visitors are on this level too and after that it was outside to the last part of this hidden Dublin gem, the garden.
Yes Cicero would approve, it’s Marsh’s Library, and garden. Of course in November the space was a little lacking in blooms although I spotted a pale pink rose making a last splash of colour. The space is enclosed by the library’s walls, filled with greenery, and has plenty of benches so I took a few moments to read my own book and plan the rest of my day. It would be a perfect spot for a picnic in the summer.
My Marsh’s Library visit ended when I left by the stone archway, pondering returning soon as a reader. I won’t be locked into the reading cages as they are no longer used. I don’t want to become their next skull. The library is the perfect space for a book-loving visitor to Dublin and its quiet hidden walled garden in the centre of the oldest part of the city is the jewel in their crown.
Location: Marsh’s Library, St Patrick’s Close, Dublin, Ireland, D08 FK79
Opening times: Tuesday-Friday 09:30-17:00, Saturday 10:00-17:00, Closed on Sunday, Monday, and Bank Holidays. It will sometimes close for special events or renovations, so do check the website before your visit.
Website: https://marshlibrary.ie/
Ticket prices: €7 for adults, €4 for students/seniors, under 18s and those in receipt of social welfare go free. You can buy online at https://marshlibrary.ie/tickets/ or upon entry.
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Grace Tierney is an author and blogger writing on Ireland’s East coast. She explores the histories of unusual words as Wordfoolery every Monday.
Her books about word history include “Words Christmas Gave Us” (the stories behind festive traditions worldwide), "Words the Vikings Gave Us" (the daily English words we stole from Old Norse), “Words The Sea Gave Us” (English nautical words, phrases, and sailors’ yarns), and “How To Get Your Name In The Dictionary” (soldiers, inventors, heroes, and villains who gave their names to English). She also broadcasts a monthly slot about the history of words on the radio. “Words the Weather Gave Us” will launch in 2026 and she’s already researching “Words Stories Gave Us”.
When not writing you’ll find her reading dictionaries, crafting, or visiting a museum - the smaller the better.
Blog - https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/
Books - https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/my-books/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/gracetierneywriter
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