Season's Greetings from your National Library
Final sketch for the NLI's 2025 Christmas card by Peter O'Brien
L-R: Sara Smyth, Assistant Keeper in Special Collections, artist and designer Peter O'Brien and Liz Coffey, Head of Communications and Development
Peter’s sketch is inspired by our beautiful building on Kildare Street. When the Library first opened in August 1890, it offered something unusual for Victorian Dublin: a place where women could study and read alongside men, without needing a chaperone.
Peter is widely recognised as one of Ireland’s leading fashion designers. We’re proud to hold his Theatre Collection here at the NLI, which includes his costume sketches for Brian Friel’s adaptation of A Month in the Country, staged at Dublin’s Gate Theatre in 2015.
You can explore this collection through our catalogue.
Preparatory sketches:
Collaborating with contemporary artists is an important part of how the National Library of Ireland supports creative practice and continues to enrich our collections. If you’d like to discover more, you can learn about our Prints and Drawings collection here.
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