Rearing children the old-fashioned way

A new catalogue containing items of Irish interest, running to some 620 entries, has recently been issued by antiquarian and rarebook dealers P & B Rowan of Belfast. Among the particularly attractive items is a volume of advice to Irish mothers on training children, which was written by the Countess of Caledon and published in Armagh in 1842 (£650), and an example of Rocque's map of Ireland, printed in London in 1794 (£775). Many of the names familiar from such catalogues - Allingham, Barrington, Hyde and Synge - are present, alongside government reports, memoirs, local histories and pamphlets. For further information, contact P & B Rowan, Tel. 0801232-666448.