Stanyhurst Grant of Arms unveiled by NLI after being acquired earlier this year

The Stanyhurst Grant of Arms, belonging to the once prominent Stanyhurst family from Corduff, Co Dublin, is among a range of items acquired by the National Library of Ireland (NLI) in 2022 to be unveiled today.

“Dating from 1554, it is one of the most significant acquisitions by the NLI this year,” a spokesperson says.

“It was purchased at auction earlier this year.”

The 468-year-old Tudor manuscript is the earliest known Irish grant of arms in existence, and is “remarkably well-preserved and visually impressive.”

The arms were granted by Bartholomew Butler, Ulster King of Arms, to Nicholas Stanyhurst, Dublin city treasurer and alderman, and formerly Mayor of Dublin.

The ‘Ulster King of Arms’ was a predecessor of the Chief Herald of Ireland, an office which is now part of the NLI and is responsible for the granting and confirming of arms to individuals and organisations.

The NLI acquired more than 20,000 items in 2022.

Other material collected this year includes a hand-captioned photograph album from Elizabeth ‘Lollie’ Corbet Yeats, sister of WB Yeats; political letters from the Fawsitt-Dowell papers, and posters from the 1960s from cinemas in Cork and Laois.

Speaking about the new additions to the national collection during 2022, Acting Director of the NLI, Katherine McSharry said: “The job of collecting Ireland’s memory in every age, whether from the 16^th century or 2022, is a year-round one for the team at the National Library of Ireland.

“Tens of thousands of items – books, newspapers, photographs, letters, websites and much more – are added to the NLI’s collections and catalogued every year.

“Some are acquired under legal deposit – the statutory requirement for a copy of all material published in Ireland to be deposited with certain libraries, including the NLI – some are donated by individuals or organisations, and some are purchases. All help us to tell the stories of Ireland.”

All the acquisitions in 2022 join the NLI’s 12 million items, including books, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, prints, drawings, maps, letters, diaries, websites and more.

The NLI’s work is funded from its annual grant from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.