Merrion Square

Explore the library history of Dublin, a city that has produced many famous writers and poets over the centuries – see where they took their inspiration on this private, off-the-beaten-path walking tour.

On your private walking tour, you will:

• Start in Merrion Square, where a statue in honour of the legendary Oscar Wilde can be found, born in Dublin in the 19th century;
• Learn about the lives of other famous Irish writers who have called Dublin home - including William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, and Samuel Beckett;
• Visit several historic bookshops throughout the city, where you will be able to shop for books by Irish greats, such as Ulysses and Sweny’s Pharmacy;
• Admire the abstract statue of William Butler Yeats by Henry Moore in St Stephen's Green, a prominent literary figure of the 20th century; 
• Pop into several pubs throughout Dublin, where noted literary greats used to hang out for a pint, like Toners – favoured by WB Yeats, and the Dave Byrnes Pub, where Joyce spent time and which appears in his major work Ulysses;
• Stop in at the legendary Bewley's on Grafton Street, a very old grand café with mahogany furniture and stained glass windows, where James Joyce, Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett and Sean O’Casey all visited;
• End your tour across the river at the famous Winding Stair Restaurant & Bookstore.

Ireland, the Emerald Isle, is famed for its lush green rolling landscapes and its capital city, Dublin, for its stunning architecture and turbulent political history, so it is no surprise that the country has produced so many famous literary figures! 

On your private walking tour of beautiful Dublin, with its stunning architecture, wonderful traditional pubs and cafes and antiquated bookshops, you’ll see where figures such as Wilde and Joyce, Yeats and Stoker lived, studied, socialized, and wrote. 

You will begin your private tour in Merrion Square, where many houses have plaques detailing the names of the rich and famous who once lived in the area, including Dublin’s most famous son, the writer and dramatist Oscar Wilde. 

There is a statue of him in the middle of the square. Wandering on, you’ll spy a statue of Yeats in St Stephen’s Square, and pass by St Patrick’s Cathedral, where you will hear about the illustrious writer and satirist Jonathan Swift, who had a lifelong connection to the cathedral's Dean and is buried there. 

Next, step back into the 18th century and learn the history of Marsh’s Library. Unchanged for three centuries, this perfectly preserved library of the early Enlightenment—with its original oak bookcases— houses more than 25,000 rare and obscure books.

On your literary tour of Dublin, you will visit Sweny’s Pharmacy and the literary pub Davy Byrne’s, both famous for their appearance in James Joyce's Ulysses, and are bursting with interesting tidbits about the famous novelist and poet.

UNESCO recognises Dublin as a City of Literature, reflecting the city’s rich and varied history of writers and writing. During your tour, you will meander through the streets, libraries, and bookstores which are woven into the stories and lives of Ireland's most celebrated Irish thinkers. 

From Nobel Literature Prize winners WB Yeats, GB Shaw and Samuel Beckett to its beloved James Joyce, Dublin is brimming with stories of its favourite authors waiting to be heard.