In the early 1800s Galway was still a predominantly Irish speaking city, with low literacy rates. Dr. Benson considers the spread of children's literature in English in the west of Ireland, and what it tells us about the slow decline of the Irish language in the 19th Century.

Biography

Charles Benson was Keeper of Early Printed Books and Special Collections in Trinity College Library Dublin from 1988 until 2011.He has written extensively on the Irish book trade in the the nineteenth century, and is now compiling a dictionary of members of the Dublin book trade 1801-1850