John O'Donovan
Irish texts published by CELT, edited and translated by O'Donovan
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. Six volumes.
Bibliography of John O'Donovan
Chronology
1809 July 9: born at his father's farm in Atatemore, Co. Kilkenny;
educated in Dublin.
1826: appointed to work in Irish Record Office.
1829: worked in historical department of the Irish Ordnance Survey:
examined manuscripts and toured Ireland.
1832-1833: wrote many articles, on Irish topography and history,
in the Dublin Penny Journal.
1837: volume published by Ordnance Survey which contains a long
Irish text and translation from the "Dinnsenchas" by
O'Donovan.
1840: married Mary Anne Broughton, with whom he had nine sons.
By this marriage he became brother-in-law to Eugene O'Curry, another
Celtic scholar.
1840-1841: wrote articles for the Irish Penny Journal.
1841: first volume of the Irish Archaeological Society published:
The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach MacNeill
edited by O'Donovan; this work contains the first good map of
ancient Ireland.
1842: The Banquet of Dun na nGedh and the Battle
of Magh Rath published.
1843: The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many from the
Book of Lecan published; prepared a text and translation of "Sanas
Chormaic".
1844: The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy Fiachrach,
from a manuscript of Duald MacFirbis, published again accompanied
by a beautiful map; entered Gray's Inn, London on 15 April.
1845: Grammar of the Irish Language published by
Trinity College Dublin, the expense of printing shared by O'Donovan
and TCD.
1846: the Irish Charters in the Book of Kells published.
1847: called to the Irish Bar; Celtic Society publishes his Leabhar
na gCeart, from a manuscript of Giolla Iosa mor MacFirbis.
1852: employed to transcribe legal manuscripts by the commission
for the publication of the ancient laws of Ireland.
1848-51: transcribed, translated and edited the Annals of
the Four Masters, often called the "Fifth Master"
for this work. The Irish type in which the text is printed was
designed by George Petrie.
1849: Celtic Society published his The Genealogy of Corca
Laidhe, or O'Driscoll's Country.
1850: conferred with honorary degree of LL.D. by University of
Dublin (TCD).
1852: employed by the commission for the publication of the ancient
laws of Ireland; made transcripts of legal manuscripts in Irish
which fill over 2,000 pages and a preliminary translation of these
in twelve volumes.
1860: Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society (IACS) published
his Three Fragments of Irish Annals, with Translation
and Notes.
1861 December 9: died in Dublin and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
1862: IACS published his Topographical Poems of O'Dubhagain
and O'Huidhrin.
1864: IACS published his The Martyrology of Donegal,
edited by Bishop William Reeves.
Sources:
Dictionary of National Biography
Patricia Boyne John O'Donovan (1806-1861): a biography (Kilkenny: Boethius 1987)
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