Amy Boylan, a rare book librarian at Marsh's Library, introduces the latest exhibition at the oldest public library in Ireland - meet The Wild Elephants of Dublin 8...
After months of lockdown Marsh’s Library, the oldest public library in Ireland founded in 1707, reopens with a quirky exhibition celebrating everyone’s favourite pachyderm, the elephant.
Our love of elephants is not new; they have been respected and revered since ancient times for their power, intelligence and affection. Many travel books, maps and atlases from the 16th and 17th centuries have illustrations of elephants. Their portrayal in that era reflects Europeans’ increased awareness of Africa and India, and the limitations of this knowledge. As few people in the west had ever seen a real elephant, some images were rather fanciful.
In his History of Four Footed Beasts, Ulisse Aldrovandi describes elephants talking, dancing and painting. Englishman Edward Webbe claims to have encountered elephants and unicorns on his travels ‘so tame that I have played with them as one would play with young lambes’. The public devoured his ‘true’ story, which went through three editions when first published in 1590. The line between myths and discoveries was quite blurry: elephants and unicorns were equally whimsical and ended up on the same page.
There is a specifically Dublin flavour to the exhibition. We wanted to show the animal that was on display to the public in Temple Bar in 1680s. After she died, Dr Allan Mullen from Trinity College dissected the body and published the first scientific account of an elephant’s skeleton and anatomy (see image at top of article).
Modern familiarity with elephants from zoos and the media has done little to diminish the sense of wonder associated with these strong, intelligent and affectionate animals. They continue to delight in tales from Aesop’s Fables to Rudyard’s Kipling’s Just So Stories.
One of the loveliest items in the exhibition is a brochure published for Dublin Zoo’s centenary year in 1930, featuring an elephant carrying visitors in a howdah on its back. Times have changed, but elephants remain as popular as ever.
The Wild Elephants of Dublin 8 runs until the end of September in Marsh’s Library on St Patrick’s Close, Dublin 8 (beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral) - the library is open from Tuesday to Friday from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm, and from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm on Saturday. No advance booking is necessary - more info here.
