James Kelly, Spring 2022 Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies
Channel: Boston College Libraries
Date: 2022-05-04

"Satirical Fun: Irish Single Sheet Caricature in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries"
A lecture by James Kelly, Spring 2022 Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies
Thursday, March 17, 2022, John J. Burns Library, Boston College


Hosted by John J. Burns Library in conjunction with Boston College's Irish Studies program.


For half a century between the late 1770s and the late 1820s a number of Dublin based print-sellers specialised in the production of single sheet caricatures. Much of what they offered for sale consisted of Irish copies of images developed in London by the great names in caricature. There are many examples of  images produced by the likes of James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and various members of the Cruikshank family, but Irish printsellers also promoted the production of Irish images. All, whatever their origin, offer a unique perspective on what people living in Ireland found humorous that is equally revealing of the politics and society of the era. This illustrated lecture will provide an overview of this phenomenon, identify those who sustained it and outline its main achievements.


James Kelly is Professor of History at Dublin City University until recently. A graduate of University College Dublin (1985), he has spent his working life in St Patrick’s College then a College of Dublin City University, where he was head of subject between 1999 and 2016, and, since the College was formally incorporated into the University, as Head of the School of History and Geography at DCU. He was acting Dean of Humanities between 2012 and 2016.


For additional information, please visit: https://libguides.bc.edu/burnsscholars