Introduction:

In this paper a map of print culture in the Munster and South Leinster region will be outlined and discussed. The empirical foundation for the study is a database of over 700 individuals involved in the print trade, concentrating on production and distribution, more than on the creative input of authors, although sometimes the lines are blurred. During the seventeenth century there was little printing activity, but there were several ports on the south and south-west coast where printed items were imported. Merchants were not solely reliant on Dublin for the provision of printed matter, trade could be carried on independently with England and the continent. Raymond Gillespie has noted 120 merchants importing books from Bristol to the south of Ireland between 1590 and 1612.[1] Books were imported at Youghal and Dingle from England, Holland and France in 1699 and 1700.[2] In 1723 the chief coastal trading…