The title of the book might suggest that this is a book about the buildings of Trinity College, indeed just its residential buildings, but in truth it is a beautifully illustrated and researched production, a labour of love by R A (Andrew) Somerville, otherwise known to a generation of economics students at TCD for his lectures in financial and mathematical economics.
The topic provided a rich platform for Somerville to launch a series of historical researches around enlightenment Dublin in the early Georgian age, whose epicentre was Trinity.
The result is an important addition to the canon of historical research on Trinity and its place in the heritage of Dublin. Unsurprisingly, given his economics background, financing and money feature in the narrative, including, for example new insight on the background to Swift’s Drapiers Letters, and a potted history of the exchange rates for the Irish pound, prior to its alignment with sterling in 1826. Published November 2021. 404pp.
Details: here
(Review: KO’B, editor).