John Thomas Gilbert (1829-98), historian and antiquary, was for thirty-four years librarian of the Royal Irish Academy. It was during this time, in 1884, that his two-volume edition of these chartularies, registers and annals was originally published as part of the Rolls Series. Volume 2 contains two collections of excerpts from the abbey's lost sixteenth-century register. Also included is the register of St Mary's Abbey, Dunbrody, and two portions of the annals of St Mary's Abbey, Dublin (which begin with the birth of Christ and end at the start of the thirteenth century, with the period between the third and tenth centuries unaccounted for). A further fragment of the 'Annals of Ireland', declared as 'of high historical importance', furnishes details of the activities of Robert Bruce. Gilbert, throughout, provides English side-notes to the Latin text. These, together with the helpful summary of contents and index to both volumes, make the work easier to navigate.
