Printed in Irish in the town of the Ford of the Hurdles, at the cost of Master John Usher, alderman, at the head of the Bridge, the 20th day of June 1571. With the privilege of the great Queen. 1571 [Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF O'KEARNEY'S IRISH ALPHABET AND CATECHISM (_slightly reduced_)] This book was produced by John O'Kearney, sometime treasurer of St Patrick's Cathedral, and his friend Nicholas Walsh, chancellor of St Patrick's and afterwards Bishop of Ossory, and the John Usher who defrayed the expense was then Collector of Customs of the port of Dublin. Its appearance was considered a momentous event by those concerned with it, for great benefits were anticipated for the Irish people as soon as "their national tongue and its own dear alphabet" were reduced to print, as O'Kearney states at some length in the preface. He also tells us that the types from which this volume was printed were provided "at the cost of the high, pious, great, and mighty prince Elizabeth." In this connection it is worth while to notice two extant records, one among the State Papers (Irish Series) and the other among the Acts of the Privy Council. From the first, made some time in December 1567, we gather that Queen Elizabeth had already paid £66. 13s. 4d. "for the making of carecters for the testament in irishe," and that this Testament was not yet in the press. The second (August 1587) states that the New Testament was translated into Irish by Walsh and O'Kearney, but "never imprynted, partlie for want of proper characters and men of that nacion and language skillful in the mystery of pryntyng," and partly on account of the cost. I can find no other record of the provision of a fount of Irish types at the Queen's expense, and having no more definite information at hand on this point, and taking into consideration the contents of the book--an Irish alphabet, and directions for reading Irish, and a catechism, etc. (by way of exercise?)--its diminutive size and the imperfection of its print, I venture the suggestion that O'Kearney's work was printed as a trial of the new types given by the Queen and intended for printing the New Testament. This view is supported by the first words of the preface: "Here, O reader, you have the first value and fruit of that great instructive work, which I have been producing and devising for you for a long time, that is, the faithful and perfect type of the Gaelic tongue." The conclusion seems to be that the types were inadequate for the larger work, and that for some reason there was a difficulty about supplying more or finding anyone to undertake the printing.