State acquires Bonar Law's treasure trove of maps for UCC 

Collection includes close to 10,000 maps, some 9,000 prints, caricature prints, and ballad sheets

Dr Audrey Whitty, director of the National Library of Ireland; Tánaiste Micheál Martin; UCC president Prof John O’Halloran, and Charlotte Otway-Norwood (daughter of Andrew Bonar Law). Picture: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

The state has acquired a treasure trove of maps of Ireland described as one of the most complete visual records of the country, in map and print form, ever assembled by an expert private collector.

The remarkable Bonar Law Collection, whose acquisition was formally announced at University College Cork on Monday, comprises close to 10,000 maps, some 9,000 prints, caricature prints, and ballad sheets, many of which are unique to this collection.

Andrew Bonar Law, born 1933, is Ireland’s premier collector of printed maps and topographical prints.

Following university education at Trinity College Dublin, he settled in Ireland, he opened the Neptune Gallery in the mid-1960s, and operated a very successful business as a dealer in art, as well as in prints and maps.

His publications include The Printed Maps of Ireland to 1612 (1983); The Printed Maps of Ireland 1612-1850 (1997), and The Prints and Maps of Dublin (2005).

Highlights of his collection include all of the important atlases of Ireland in their various editions, world atlases containing Irish maps, a section entitled ‘cartographical curiosities’, a comprehensive collection of coloured and black and white caricature prints, broadsides and ballad sheets, many of which are likely to be unique to this collection, and an important collection of Sea Charts.

Part of the Bonar Collection.

Remarkably, the collection includes over 90% of the listed maps and prints of Ireland ever produced.

The collection is also a testament to the expertise of Andrew’s daughter, Charlotte Bonar Law, also a highly experienced map dealer, who was in UCC for Monday's announcement.

Following discussions between the National Library of Ireland (NLI) and UCC, the NLI has entered into a loan arrangement with UCC that allows the collection to be placed in the UCC Library and be open to researchers and the general public.

It is hoped that the digital content could be available for exhibition as early as 2024 with the physical material available for exhibition following conservation assessment after 2025.

The acquisition was formally announced by the Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Arts Minister Catherine Martin.

Mr Martin described it as the best collection of its kind anywhere in the world.

“It is unrivalled in the holdings of any public institution, including the British Library and the Library of Congress,” he said. “It offers a fascinating insight not only into Irish geographical history, but also into the changing political landscape of the last two hundred years, for the benefit of the State and for the people of Ireland.” 

Ms Martin, whose department funded the acquisition, said the collection represents a life’s work of study and expert knowledge.

UCC President, Professor John O’Halloran, said the collection will help us to better understand how Ireland has changed, not just physically but socially, politically, and ideologically through the ages.

The collection will be housed in UCC's Boole Library and can be accessed by researchers and members of the public by contacting UCC's Library Special Collections and Archives team.