Next Thursday and Friday, in the University of Limerick, there will be a book auction and fair in aid of the Bolton Library, Cashel. These events have been organised by the Bolton's board of management and the University of Limerick library and are aimed at raising funds for urgent work on the Bolton Library and its collection and to initiate an endowment fund for its future.

Writers and publishers are invited to donate works for auction, together with a piece of handwriting about the work in question. It is hoped that the writers of Ireland will help to save this national but neglected treasure house of centuries of writing.

The library was created by the will of Theophilus Bolton, archbishop of Cashel, in 1744 which left some 12,000 volumes, including many from the renowned collector, Archbishop...