Chronicling the Irish book, from seventh-century manuscripts to internet publishing, is a massive project. Rosita Boland talks to one of its editors

When volume three of a five-part set is published, such as the recent Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume III, you would probably assume that it had been preceded by volumes one and two. Furthermore, that it would then be followed by companions four and five. However, not all multi-volume publishing projects are sequential. Hence The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume III, The Irish Book in English 1550-1800 is actually the first of the five to appear.

"You couldn't select a more tortuous path towards publication," says Robert Welch wryly, one of the project's two general editors. Welch is Dean of Arts at the University of Ulster and his co-editor is Brian Walker, Professor of Politics at Queens University.

The project, which spans the period dating from the earliest surviving illuminated manuscripts, such as the seventh-century Book of Durrow, right up to 21st-century internet publishing, was originally suggested to Welch in the mid-1990s by one of his PhD students, Christopher Corr.

"Book history was an emerging discipline at that time," Welch explains. Together with Walker, they organised a symposium on Irish book history. From the feedback, they decided to make a detailed proposal to Oxford University Press (OUP) for a five-volume exploration of the topic, from the era of pre-printed books to the post-print one of the world wide web. "Ireland has one of the oldest book cultures in Europe. For instance, we have the Book of Durrow, the Book of Kells, and the manuscripts of ancient Irish law."

Welch and Walker made a rough plan of the contents and scope of each of the five volumes. The titles of the others are: The Gaelic Manuscript Tradition; The Printed Book in Irish 1550-2000; The Irish Book in English 1800-1890; and The Irish Book in English 1890-2000. While the two are general editors, each volume also has its own designated editors. They in turn work with an editorial team, and a team of advisers, to commission and co-ordinate the essays. There are some 150 contributors involved, most drawn from the academic world.

The current volume, covering the Irish book in English from the period 1550-1880, looks at the emergence of a print culture in Ireland, and its ancillaries, such as libraries and collectors of books. Early printed books were nearly always expensive and rare. Some of the aristocracy bought books, not to be read, but to be displayed behind glass in their fine tooled bindings. Books were status symbols of a well-established household, far more prized than anything comparable today, such as surround systems, flat-screen televisions and home cinemas.

Clerics, such as Narcissus Marsh, Archbishop of Dublin in the early 18th century, who established the library now known as Marsh's, were prominent collectors, as were academics. In Toby Barnard's essay in Volume III, Libraries and Collectors, 1700-1800, he writes of clergyman Nathaniel Foy, who was moved from a Dublin parish to the bishopric of Waterford. A letter survives from him, written in 1692, which is held in Trinity College Dublin, and which tells of his distress of losing his books at sea.

"One of the things we were trying to look at is the sociology of reading," Welch explains. Some contributors have located material such as diaries and letters which record what people were reading in the 17th and 18th centuries, and how it affected their thinking. Today, we take the presence of books for granted, but in the early days of printed books, their impact on literate society was tremendous. Prior to this, ideas had travelled via conversations. Now you could expand your horizons simply by reading.

The project has received funding support from various bodies, with the University of Ulster allocating a research assistant and research fellows to the project. They also got funding from the British Academy Joint Institutional Fellowship Scheme and a number of other bodies. While OUP have paid editors and contributors for their work, Welch estimates that academic funding has supported the project with in the region of €800,000.

The next volume will be The Irish Book in English 1890-2000, next year. Volumes two and four will be published in 2008 and the last - and first - The Gaelic Manuscript Tradition, in 2009.

The Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume III, The Irish Book in English 1550-1800 is published by Oxford University Press at £90