MORE THAN 50 editions of the Limerick Chroniclenewspaper published between 1783 and 1827 have been bought by the National Library in Dublin.
They are being preserved and repaired before going on public display.
A spokesperson for the library said the acquisition "has further expanded the library's holdings, and provides additional evidence of the vibrancy of Irish print culture in the 18th century". Other copies of the newspaper within their collection date back to 1771.
The 56 issues of the Limerick Chronicle, the oldest newspaper in the Republic, were bought from Patsy Peril (65), a fisherman and environmentalist from Coonagh, Co Limerick, who said that despite international interest, he had "practically donated" them for a nominal amount to the National Library.
"There's just incredible news in them, especially a lot of stuff pre-Famine. They showed there was an amount of food shipped out of the country in abundance, and gave weekly shipping times. It glares out at you from the paper. It was not just local news but international despatches coming directly from the [ American] War of Independence, with very detailed accounts of battles," said Mr Peril.
"The newspapers didn't have an agenda of propaganda that you could decipher. You were reading the truth or as close to the truth as you could get, apart from when it came to the 1798 uprisings."
He said he was offered a "substantial amount" by foreign buyers, but for him the papers were "priceless". According to Newsplan, which provides a listing of all extant files of Irish newspapers, 54 of the 56 issues appear to be "unique", or not held in any repository in any format.
The University of Limerick's Glucksman Library was also interested in buying these copies, having acquired the earliest issues last year, which proved that the first Limerick Chroniclewas published in 1768, and not 1766 as previously advertised on the newspaper's masthead.