This Volume is issued by the Council, and presented to the Fellows of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, in accordance with No. 27 of its General Rules.

In the same manner there have been published, in 1870, as the "Annuary " of this Society (under its former designation of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland), for 1868 and 1869, " The Social State of the Southern and South-Eastern Counties of Ireland in the Sixteenth Century," edited by Herbert F. Hore, Esq., and Rev. James Graves; and as the " Annual Volumes " of the Association for 1870 to 1877, " Christian Inscriptions in the Irish Language," edited by Miss Margaret Stokes. Both these valuable works are long since out of print.

A proposed Annual Volume for 1878-80 was commenced by the late Mr. W. M. Hennessy, but it was not completed, and the circumstances of the Society for some subsequent years did not permit any new work to be produced.