publishing in Irish

publishing in Irish began with Foirm na nUrrnuidheadh (1567), a devotional work for Irish and Scottish Presbyterians issued in Edinburgh by Seon Carsuel. This was followed by Seán Ó Cearnaigh's Aibidil Gaoidheilge & Caiticiosma (1571), a catechism and prayer-book for the use of the Church of Ireland, printed in Dublin on founts paid for by Elizabeth I. Uilliam Ó Domhnaill [see William Daniel] saw to the publication of an Irish New Testament in 1603 [see Bible in Irish], printed in Dublin by Seon Franche. A counter-offensive was launched at St Anthony's College in Louvain, where the Franciscans devised an Irish fount and issued Aodh Mac Aingil's Sgáthán Shacramuinte na hAithridhe (1618), and other books. William Bedell organized the translation of the Old Testament, completed by 1640 but not published until 1685. Keating's Foras Feasa was not published until 1811 (vol. i only), although an English translation was published by Dermod O'Connor (1723). The work of Míchéal Ó Cléirigh on the Annals of the Four Masters remained in manuscript until edited by John O'Donovan (1848-51), but his glossary Foclóir nó Sunasán Nua was published in Louvain (1643). By the 18th cent., with the Penal Laws in force and English gaining ground as a spoken and written language, there was less demand for devotional works in Irish. Nevertheless, in 1722 Francis Hutchinson published The Church Catechism in Irish for use on Rathlin Island. James Gallagher published Catholic sermons in Irish in 1767. Charlotte Brooke's Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789) was the first volume which contained specifically literary material in Irish. In the 19th cent. a new interest in history and antiquities led to the founding of learned societies, among them the Ossianic Society, and the Irish Archaeological Society. Cultivation of Modern Irish was encouraged by the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (1876), which published elementary texts from 1877 to 1887. The Gaelic League published many volumes of folklore and creative writing. The Irish Texts Society, founded in 1900, began to publish editions of classic Irish texts with full scholarly apparatus. A government agency, An Gúm, established in 1925, had by 1950 published over 1, 000 books. Sáirséal agus Dill, founded in 1947 by Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, published works by modern writers such as Máirtín Ó Cadhain. Notwithstanding a small readership, a greater number of books in Irish have been published in the fifty years to the end of the century than were published during the previous 400 years, and the number published annually has been steadily increasing, not least because of the industry of Pádraig Ó Snodaigh's Coiscéim imprint.