Thomas Anthony Birrell (1924–2011) was a man of many parts. For most of his working life he was Professor of English and American Literature in the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where he was famous for his lively, humoristic and thought-provoking lectures. He was the author of some very popular surveys of English Literature in Dutch, but – first and foremost – he was a bibliographer and a historian. His scholarly oeuvre is extensive and includes such highlights as English Monarchs and their Books (London 1986), a study of the Old Royal Library. However, many of his publications are hidden in occasional publications, periodicals and introductions to books no longer in print. That is why a – posthumous – selection of his bibliographical essays appeared in 2013, entitled Aspects of Book Culture (Ashgate 2013), and that is why it was decided to bring out a companion volume containing a selection of his essays in the field of recusant history. The present edition contains fourteen of Birrell’s articles published between 1950 and 2006. They all demonstrate his bibliographical expertise, his in-depth knowledge of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English Catholic history and his absolute determination to examine every scrap of archival material that might shed light on the episodes he was investigating. But, perhaps most important of all, he combined his scholarship with an intense interest in the individual lives that shape and are shaped by history, so the lasting impression that these articles will make is the sense of getting close to a whole series of personalities caught up in the turmoil of their time. Aspects of Recusant History was edited by Jos Blom, Frans Korsten and Frans Blom, all three former students of Tom Birrell and, both individually and collectively, authors and editors of a whole range of important book historical publications. (CS1092).

"Thomas Anthony Birrell (1924-2011) was a man of many parts. For most of his working life he was Professor of English and American Literature in the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where he was famous for his lively, humoristic and thought-provoking lectures. He was the author of some very popular surveys of English Literature in Dutch, but - first and foremost - he was a bibliographer and a historian. His scholarly oeuvre is extensive and includes such highlights as English Monarchs and their Books (London 1986), a study of the Old Royal Library. However, many of his publications are hidden in occasional publications, periodicals and introductions to books no longer in print. That is why a - posthumous - selection of his bibliographical essays appeared in 2013, entitled Aspects of Book Culture (Ashgate 2013) and that is why it was decided to bring out a companion volume containing a selection of his essays in the field of recusant history. The present edition contains fourteen of Birrell's articles published between 1950 and 2006. They all demonstrate his bibliographical expertise, his in-depth knowledge of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English catholic history and his absolute determination to examine every scrap of archival material that might shed light on the episodes he was investigating. But, perhaps most important of all, he combined his scholarship with an intense interest in the individual lives that shape and are shaped by history, so the lasting impression that these articles will make is the sense of getting close to a whole series of personalities caught up in the turmoil of their time. Aspects of Recusant History was edited by Jos Blom, Frans Korsten and Frans Blom, all three former students of Tom Birrell"--

A journal of research in Post-Reformation Catholic history in the British Isles.

Thomas Anthony Birrell (1924-2011) was a man of many parts. For most of his working life he was Professor of English Literature in the University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, where he was famous for his lively, humoristic and thought-provoking lectures. He was the author of some very popular literary surveys in Dutch, one of which - a history of English literature - has had seven editions so far. However, first and foremost he was a bibliographer and a book historian. The present collection contains fifteen of his book-historical articles, two reviews and one published version of a lecture for the illustrious ’Association Internationale de Bibliophilie’. The lecture - with a wealth of illustrations - about the British Library as the ’Custodian of the Unique’ gives one a sense of Birrell’s ability to present an audience with a complicated topic in comprehensible, but not simplified, terms. The reviews serve as a statement of principle of how to tackle the subject of ’English readers and books’ and the standards that ought to apply. The articles demonstrate Tom Birrell’s in-depth knowledge, dedication and scholarship. He once said that he felt that he could have talked to the 17th-century London booksellers on an equal footing and his work convinces one that they would have enjoyed these conversations. Aspects of Book Culture was edited by Birrell’s former pupil, colleague, friend and fellow-bibliographer Jos Blom.

"This book is an edited collection of nineteen essays written by a range of experts and some newer scholars in the areas of early modern British and Irish history and religion. In addition to English Catholicism, developments in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, as well as ongoing connections and interactions with Continental Catholicism, are well incorporated throughout the volume"--

The Papist Represented situates eighteenth-century literature within the history and culture of the English Catholic community and its interactions with the nation’s Protestant majority. It demonstrates Catholic influence on some of the period’s most popular and experimental literary works, challenging the assumption that eighteenth-century literature was a fundamentally Protestant enterprise.

This book examines the mechanisms of the Irish revolutionary Fenian Brotherhood in the early years of its existence. Drawing on a wide range of material from places as diverse as Rome and Toronto it seeks to set the Fenian struggle within the context of competing church and state influence in mid-nineteenth century Irish society. It is particularly strong on the transatlantic comparative dimensions of church, state and Fenian activity, and demonstrates how the Fenians managed to change, forever, the terms of Irish political and social debate.