Sir, - Brendan O Cathaoir rightly describes material in Transactions of the Central Relief Committee of the Society of Friends during the Famine in Ireland in 1846 and 1847 as being among the most important sources of information about Famine conditions. The original work, running to nearly 500 pages, has long been out of print and in any case had presented scholars using it with a major problem in its lack of an index.
Your reviewer, unfortunately, omitted to mention that the new edition contains a comprehensive index with some 5,000 entries, compiled by Robin G. Goodbody. The main text is a facsimile of the original and an introduction has been added by the editors, Joan C. Johnson and Robin Goodbody. A generous grant from the Great Famine Commemoration Committee made it possible not only to publish the work but to place it on sale at a very reasonable price. - Yours, etc.,
Woodtown Park,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.