This month sees the beginning of a series of blogposts which will provide our readers with a review of what it is like to carry out archival research in the following European libraries: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, Royal Irish Academy Library, National Library of Ireland and British Library. I visited each of the libraries listed above between the months of April and July this year in order to carry out archival research on extant Moore sources. The purpose of my research was to catalogue works by Thomas Moore, or inspired by Moore, for inclusion on the ERIN online database catalogue, to examine various early printed editions of music for case studies which will be published on the ERIN website and to gather contextual information regarding Moore’s reception in Europe. Each repository has something unique to offer in this respect. Posts in this series will include advice about what preparations to make in advance of visiting these libraries and will provide information about what to expect when you arrive. I will also publish an overview of the sources I examined highlighting their significance within our research project.

Image Courtesy of Special Collections, McClay Library