Culinary Collections in the National Library of Ireland

The National Library has been collecting, preserving and making the documentary heritage of Ireland available to the public since 1877 and cares for over 12 million items today. In 1926 it became a legal deposit Library so by law one copy of each book and periodical published in the Republic of Ireland must be deposited here. The NLI also acquires books and manuscripts through purchases, such as auctions or private sales and we receive donations of materials into our collections, from individuals and organisations. The Library is made up of different departments including Published Collections, Special Collections and Digital Collections and we hold all kinds of published and unique materials such as books, archives, manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, prints and drawings, maps, music, newspapers, periodicals, digital collections and websites; throughout these sections, food, cooking and recipes feature in one form or another.