The English poet John Donne (1572–1631) signed his books with the motto ‘Per Rachel ho seruito & non per Lea:’ and his name ‘J:Donne’. The motto consists of a line from the fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch. It is thought that for Donne, ‘Rachel’ represented the contemplative life and ‘Lea’, the active. This text is bound in limp vellum with eleven other pamphlets, all printed between 1602 and 1618. Other than notes on the back flyleaf and pastedown there are no annotations in this volume.

Citation: Daniel Plancius, Dissertatio de fide haereticis non servanda ex decreto concilij Constantiensis (Amsterdam, 1608),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#577

Molyneux’s book was the first treatise in English on optics. This is a copy which he presented to Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, the founder of this Library. Marsh had a keen interest in the most up-to-date scientific discoveries of his day. The inscription reads: ‘To the Most Rever’d Narcissus L[or]d Archb[isho]p of Cashel His Grace, From the Author[,] Will: Molyneux’.

Citation: William Molyneux, Dioptrica nova. A treatise of dioptricks, in two parts (London, 1692),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#578

Paper was an expensive commodity, and this is an example of notes being written in books simply because they provided a convenient supply of blank paper. These notes on the ‘Standing Army in Ireland 1731/2’ bear no relationship to Molyneux’s text, which was concerned with the detrimental effect on Irish trade of laws passed at Westminster.

Citation: William Molyneux, The Case of Ireland’s being bound by Acts of Parliament in England, stated ([Dublin?], 1719),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#579

An example of an early reader exercising his or her penmanship. He or she only got as far as the letter ‘r’ and the ink has subsequently bled into the page. There are few other annotations in the book, but we do know it once belonged to a certain Edward Gwynn because he bound all his volumes the same way — with his name gold-tooled on the front cover, and his initials on the back. Marsh’s Library has 57 books from Gwynn’s dispersed library, the most held by any institution in the world: the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC holds another 26.

Citation: Ludolf von Sachsen, Prologus in librum domini ludolphi de suchen. de terra sancta et itinere iherosolimitano... (Gouda, 1483–4),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#580

Medical and culinary recipes were often written on the spare paper at the front and back of books. At the back of this law book there is a recipe in Latin and English for a drink which would serve as a ‘purge’. A purge was designed to cause an evacuation of the bowels, in the belief that this would cleanse the body of illness, disease or noxious substances. The recipe in English reads:

Take of Bettony, Liverwort, agrimony,

mayden hayre, bugloss: and violetts of eich

*quarter of an ounce of Rubarbe* an handfull,

of sarsaphras and sarsapill

of either halfe an ounce boyle them all

together in 16 pounds of fountayne water (which is 16

pynts) till the water be halfe consumed:.

then ad of anyl seeds and sweete fennill

seeds of eich: 3 ounces; of Lyquorise

2 ounces of french barly 3 ounce of

resings of the sunn halfe a pounde, boyle

them all agayne till halfe bee consumed and

then adde of succory water one pounde (and

one pynte) off sena one ounce Myra=

bolons Indy and Cytron of eich halfe an ounce

boyle them all agayne a litle while and lett

the pott stande from the fire luke warume

6 howers then lett ytt bee cooled and clarifyed

for use.

Citation: Joannes Nicolaus Milis, Repertorium admodum solenne quod merito opus singularium dictorum appelant do. Nicolai de Milis (Lyon, 1522),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#581

The author of the words ‘Sweet Mrs. Lucy Cooke’ on the back endleaf of this book is unknown, but may have been trying the married form of a sweetheart's name. The inscription could also express a yearning for a woman who was already married. The unknown author may also have written the following tantalising fragment on the title page: ‘And if my pen it had beene better I would...’. There are no other marks or annotations in this compendium of scientific knowledge.

Citation: Hermolaus Barbarus, Compendium scientiae naturalis, ex Aristotele et aliis philosophis collectum (Lausanne, 1579),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#582

This commentary on the Old Testament was once owned by William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was executed in 1645. Owners have not always placed their books on shelves with their spines facing outwards, as they do today. Books were often stored with the fore-edge facing outwards, either lying flat or upright, and it was very common for Medieval and Renaissance readers to write the name of the author or the title of the book on the fore-edge. Here, an early owner has written the author’s name and the names of the relevant books of the Old Testament on the fore-edge, faded but still legible as ‘Cajetan / Josu: Iudic: Ruth: Regu[m] Paral: Ezra: Nehe[m]; Ester:’.

Citation: Thomas Cajetan, In omnes authenticos veteris testamenti historiales libros, commentarii (Paris, 1546),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#583

It was common practice to write family histories into Bibles and other religious texts, partly due to the scarcity of paper, and partly due to the belief that these texts would be passed down through generations of the family. Here the births of the famous Molyneux family are recorded. The birth of William Molyneux, the Irish experimental philosopher and writer, ‘borne the 17th: of Aprill 1656 being Thursday betweene 10:xii in the morning’ is mentioned. So too is that of his brother Thomas, the physician and natural philosopher: ‘borne Apr 14th 1661 being Easter Sunday about 8 a clock in the evening’.

Citation: Holy Bible, ([London] c.1612),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#584

The endleaves of this Bible record the births, christenings, illnesses, and in some cases, deaths, of the sixteen Kemp children born between 1809– 1832. The pastedown on display is a list of the children who contracted whooping cough, measles and ‘rash fever’. Sadly, following pages reveal that the youngest children, the twins John and Charles (born 13 July 1832) died from whooping cough. Sarah Ann and Eliza died in 1811 and 1822 respectively.

Citation: Henry Southwell, The Universal Family Bible (London, 18th Century),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#585

Manuscript copies of ‘universal chronicles’ were popular in the Middle Ages as histories of the world from the time of the Creation (which was then believed to be five or six thousand years before the birth of Christ). Rolevinck’s work was the first universal history to avail of the new technology of printing with moveable type. This printed book went through more than 30 editions between its first publication in 1474 and his death in 1502. The copy shown here is extensively annotated throughout in French with several large manicules, or pointing hands, which were intended to mark significant passages in the text.

Citation: Werner Rolevinck, Fasciculus temporum (Lyon, 1483),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#586

Medical books were often annotated heavily by readers and this copy has notes and corrections added throughout, both to the text and plates. Many of the notes were subsequently crossed out. Here, Scultetus is illustrating various forceps for the mouth and likening them to birds’ beaks. However, a reader has crossed out one illustration, suggested three replacement instruments, and added his own detailed notes into the book.

Citation: Johannes Scultetus, Armamentarium chirurgicum (Amsterdam, 1662),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#587

Euripides (c.480–406 bc) was a Greek playwright, and Hecuba (written around 424 bc) is a tragedy which describes the grief of the eponymous Queen of Troy at the death of her daughter Polyxena, and her brutal revenge for the murder of her son Polydorus. This is a good example of a book printed with large margins to enable students to make annotations. Here we see the Greek text of the play annotated in both Latin and Greek in a sixteenth-century hand.

Citation: Euripides, Hecuba (Paris, 1560),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#588

Archbishop Marsh annotated his personal books infrequently, but in many of his mathematical works he completed equations or added mathematical notes. This particular section of John Newton’s book deals with ‘the quantity of right lines within a circle’, and Marsh has added detailed mathematical comments into the margins of page 2.

Citation: John Newton, Trigonometria Britanica: or, the doctrine of triangles, in two books (London, 1658),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#589

In this work, Toland argued that there was nothing in the Bible or the Christian faith that could not be understood by the proper application of human reason derived from natural principles. It was denounced (incorrectly) as atheistic, but is now widely acknowledged as an important text of the early Enlightenment. Christianity not Mysterious was attacked from the pulpit, and copies were burned by the common hangman outside the Irish parliament on College Green. Archbishop Marsh was outraged by Toland’s arguments, which he believed were dangerous to the Anglican Church. Marsh annotated his copy of this book at three separate points, pages 82, 145 and 157. On page 157, Toland has written against the reality of miracles, and comments: ‘that I have clearly prov’d it too’. Marsh retorts: ‘you have often said it indeed, but yet prov’d nothing, unless saying a thing is so, be proving it to be so’.

Citation: John Toland, Christianity not Mysterious: or a treatise shewing, that there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to reason, nor above it: And that no Christian doctrine can be properly call’d a mystery (London, 1696),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#590

Archbishop Marsh asked Peter Browne, Vice-Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, to counter Toland’s arguments, which he did with this 1697 pamphlet. On the title page Marsh has written in Latin ‘a gift from the author’, signing himself as Narcissus, Archbishop of Dublin: N. Dublin. 1697.

Citation: Peter Browne, A Letter in answer to a book entitled Christianity not mysterious. As also to all those who set up for reason and evidence in opposition to revelation & mysteries (Dublin, 1697),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#591

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) annotated many of his books, including this three-volume history of the English Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century, which was written by his favourite historian, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon. Swift made extensive annotations in both ink and pencil in the margins throughout the book. Swift corrected a number of stylistic infelicities, but the vast majority of his annotations were negative comments about the interference of Scottish clergymen and armies in English politics during the tumultuous decades of the 1640s and 1650s. This annotation reads: ‘Cursed, abominable, hellish Scottish villains everlasting Traitors. &c &c &c.’

Citation: Edward Hyde, The History of the rebellion and civil wars in England, begun in the year 1641 (Oxford, 1707),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#592

Isaac Casaubon (1559–1614) was one of the foremost classical scholars of the Renaissance. He owned and annotated a number of books which are now held in Marsh’s Library, most significantly this edition of Cardinal Baronio’s Annales ecclesiastici, a history of the church from the time of Jesus to the Middle Ages. The Protestant Casaubon filled the book with angry underlinings and annotations in Latin against Baronio’s attempts to show that Catholic institutions and practices went back to Jesus and the Church Fathers. Using these annotations, Casaubon intended to produce a twelve-volume commentary to match the twelve volumes of Baronio’s Annales, but he died before the project could be completed.

Citation: Cesare Baronio, Annales ecclesiastici (Mainz, 1601–09),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#593

Platina’s history of the lives of the Popes was first printed in 1479. This 1485 edition is extensively annotated throughout in small writing with manicules, trefoils and manuscript headings. On this page, where mention is made of Pope Anicetus’s second-century decree that priests should not wear their hair long, someone has drawn a tiny head with long hair. Click 'See more' below to see a close-up of the head.

Citation: Bartolomeo Platina, Proemium Platynae in vitas pontificum ad Sixtvm. 1111. Pontificem Maximum ([Treviso], 1485),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#594

Pemble’s illustration is one of the classic proofs for the spherical nature of the earth. In the left-hand margin someone has copied elements of the printed illustration, but added a person holding a stick or walking cane. The pamphlet also shows signs of ownership: written in the margin of page 25 are: ‘Robert Wynn’ and ‘honest ... John Massey’. There are several inscriptions on the last leaf including: ‘David Winn eius liber (his book) 75’; ‘Thomas Evans’ and ‘David Wynne his booke pret. [price] 6d and a deare bargain’.

Citation: William Pemble, A Briefe introduction to geography, containing a description of the grounds, and general part thereof. Very necessary for young students in that science (Oxford, 1669),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#595

A Psalter is a volume containing the Psalms from the Old Testament and other devotional material. This volume was produced by Wynkyn de Worde (d. 1534), who worked for the first printer in England, William Caxton, but subsequently became an important printer and publisher in his own right. This Psalter is one of only two known copies of this edition in the world.   The first page contains a calendar for January with the saints’ days and the Epiphany printed in red ink. The drawing is of a scholar or monk with his books, ink, pen and knife. At some point an inscription was also cut out of the top section of the left page.

Citation: Catholic Church, Psalter (London, 1503),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#596

Bock (1498–1554) was a German botanist, medic and Lutheran minister. His great contribution to botany was to begin to classify plants in terms of their resemblance or relationship to each other. The first edition of his ‘plant book’ in 1539 was unillustrated, but after 1546 all editions contained several woodcut illustrations. This volume is annotated throughout with marginalia and several names and ownership marks, but the most eye-catching feature is this doodle of Charon’s Boat. In Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman who transported the souls of the recently deceased to the Underworld.

Citation: Hieronymus Bock, De stirpium, maxime earum quae in Germania nostra nascuntvr, usitatis nomenclaturis (Strasbourg, 1552),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#597

This book defended Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87), against rumours of her complicity in the murder of her second husband Lord Darnley. It also asserted her right, as a great-granddaughter of Henry vii, to be recognised as the rightful successor to the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth 1. There are a small number of manicules, corrections and annotations in this volume along with this upside-down doodle of a bird and fish. An inscription on the title page reads: ‘From wine and women, good Lord Delyver us’.

Citation: John Leslie, A Treatise concerning the defence of the honour of the right high, mightie and noble princesse, Marie Queene of Scotland, and Douager of France, with a declaration, as wel of her right, title and interest to the succession of the Croune of England (Liege, 1571),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#598

Polyanthea is a collection of extracts and quotations from literature. Nani Mirabelli’s encyclopaedic work of nearly 700 pages was one of the first general reference works to be published using the new technology of the printing press, and it became one of the most popular reference works of the sixteenth century. The entries are listed in Latin, alphabetically by topic, from ‘abactor’ (cattle thief) to ‘zelotipia’ (jealousy).
At the back someone has drawn an owl, with a human nose, and has also written the words: ‘for god is a goode lorde’. Click 'Show more' below to see a detail of the owl and a view of the whole page.

Citation: Domenico Nani Mirabelli, Polyanthea opus suauissimis floribus exornatum (Basel, 1512),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#599

These images are from a book on alchemy which was disbound, as seen in the final image below. It has now been repaired in our conservation bindery.
The volume is extensively annotated with marginal notes, manicules and doodes, a small selection of which is presented here. Note the sketches of a unicorn and a mouse that looks as if it is dressed for fencing or sword-play. The unicorn and the fencing mouse provide the title for this exhibition.

Citation: Joannis de Rupescissa, De consideratione quintae essentiae rerum omnium, opus sane egregium (Basel, [1561]),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#600

Sophocles (c.496–05 bc) was one of the great playwrights of ancient Athens. Seven of his tragedies have survived in complete form. The drawings of the skulls and skeletons at the start of this book are striking, and the volume also shows evidence of previous owners, one of whom may have sketched the drawings: ‘John Berry legally owned me. Arthur Bury legally owns me’. This page also displays a price of 1s 8d, a date of ‘June 20 1599’, and the inscription ‘Corp[us] Chri[sti] coll[ege]’.

Citation: Sophocles, Tragoediae vii (Leiden, 1593),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#601

These theological notes have been the canvas for this large sketch of a man, and again what looks like a mouse with a sword, this time in a robe, and the childish scribble: ‘god that art in’. These examples show that even the most serious of books and manuscripts could become scraps of paper.
Click on 'Show more' below to see a detail of the mouse, the scribbled text, and a close-up of the first sketch.

Citation: Anonymous, Disputationes Theologicae (16th or 17th century),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#602

The Chronicles are a history of England from the time of Adam and Eve to the Wars of the Roses. The text contains numerous references to the Pope, which an assiduous early reader completely obliterated after Henry VIII's break with Rome in the 1530s. Every single mention of the word ‘Pope’ in this book has been blotted out. In some cases the word has been replaced with ‘bishop’, signifying the Protestant belief that the Pope was merely the bishop of Rome and not the spiritual head of the universal church.

Citation: William Caxton, Chronicles of England (London, 1502),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#603

This is a Primer published by the French bookseller François Regnault (1512–51), who specialised in supplying the English market. A Primer was a devotional book, which contained prayers, Psalms, excerpts from the Gospels, and a calendar of Church feasts, as well as other short texts. The feast days of Thomas Becket and Pope Silvester fell in December, and here an owner has attempted to obliterate their names after Henry VIII’s break with Rome.

Citation: Catholic Church, Prymer of Salysbury use (Rouen, 1538),
Marsh's Library Exhibits,
‘The Unicorn & the Fencing Mouse’,
curated by Maria O'Shea, accessed February 28, 2026,
https://web.marshlibrary.ie/digi/exhibits/show/doodles#604