John O'Donovan
Electronic editions by CELT of Irish texts edited and translated by O'Donovan
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters. Six volumes.
Bibliography of John O'Donovan
Chronology
1809 July 9: born at his father's farm in Atatemore, Co. Kilkenny; educated in Dublin.
1826: appointed to work in Irish Record Office.
1829: worked in historical department of the Irish Ordnance Survey: examined manuscripts and toured Ireland.
1832–1833: wrote many articles, on Irish topography and history, in the Dublin Penny Journal.
1837: volume published by Ordnance Survey which contains a long Irish text and translation from the "Dinnsenchas" by O'Donovan.
1840: married Mary Anne Broughton, with whom he had nine sons. By this marriage he became brother-in-law to Eugene O'Curry, another Celtic scholar.
1840–1841: wrote articles for the Irish Penny Journal.
1841: first volume of the Irish Archaeological Society published: The Circuit of Ireland by Muircheartach MacNeill edited by O'Donovan; this work contains the first good map of ancient Ireland.
1842: The Banquet of Dun na nGedh and the Battle of Magh Rath published.
1843: The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many from the Book of Lecan published; prepared a text and translation of "Sanas Chormaic".
1844: The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach, from a manuscript of Duald MacFirbis, published again accompanied by a beautiful map; entered Gray's Inn, London on 15 April.
1845: Grammar of the Irish Language published by Trinity College Dublin, the expense of printing shared by O'Donovan and TCD.
1846: The Irish Charters in the Book of Kells published. The Miscellany of the Irish Archaeological Society published, which contains the Covenant between Mageoghegan and the Fox.
1847: called to the Irish Bar; Celtic Society publishes his Leabhar na gCeart, from a manuscript of Giolla Iosa mor MacFirbis.
1852: employed to transcribe legal manuscripts by the commission for the publication of the ancient laws of Ireland.
1848–51: transcribed, translated and edited the six volumes of the Annals of the Four Masters, often called the "Fifth Master" for this work. The Irish type in which the text is printed was designed by George Petrie.
1849: Celtic Society published his The Genealogy of Corca Laidhe, or O'Driscoll's Country.
1850: conferred with honorary degree of LL.D. by University of Dublin (TCD).
1852: employed by the commission for the publication of the ancient laws of Ireland; made transcripts of legal manuscripts in Irish which fill over 2,000 pages and a preliminary translation of these in twelve volumes.
1856: Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society (n.s.) published Letter of Florence Mac Carthy to the Earl of Thomond, on the ancient history of Ireland, edited with Notes.
1860: Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society (IACS) published his Three Fragments of Irish Annals, with Translation and Notes.
1861 December 9: died in Dublin and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery.
1862: IACS published his Topographical Poems of O'Dubhagain and O'Huidhrin.
1864: IACS published his Martyrology of Donegal, edited by Bishop William Reeves.
Sources:
Dictionary of National Biography
Patricia Boyne John O'Donovan (1806–1861): a biography (Kilkenny: Boethius 1987)
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