Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914), from Glenosheen in south-west Co Limerick, was a noted educationalist and historian, and from his youth a collector of Irish traditional music and song. He contributed many items to the collections of George Petrie, and also edited a number of important music collections which were published from 1873 to 1909.

The first edition of P.W. Joyce’s first published music collection – Ancient Irish Music, Dublin: McGlashen and Gill etc., 1873, ix+104+5 pp. – is presented below. To give a sense of the book as an artefact, it has been photographed rather than scanned. The book is from Cnuasach an Bhreathnaigh, the Breandán Breathnach Collection, which was donated by the Breathnach Family to the ITMA in 1987.

By coincidence, P.W. Joyce’s son, Professor Robert Dwyer Joyce, lived from 1907 to 1936 in the present premises of the ITMA, no 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. P.W. Joyce himself must have been a frequent visitor to this house as he was president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland at no 63 Merrion Square (former home of the ITMA, 1991–2006) during the period of his son’s residency in no 73.