Bibliographical knowledge of printing in Ireland until now has depended on five dictionaries of the book trade in Britain published between 1907 and 1932. In a variety of specialised studies and journal notes, various historians and antiquarians, cataloguers and bibliographers have made their contributions. The online database, "Eighteenth-Century Short title Catalogue", has also provided new sources as more and more libraries are included in its files.

Professor Munter has brought all this information together, using it to correct and clarify the earlier dictionary entries and has added material gleaned from his own research: data collected from advertisements, broadsheets, newspapers, almanacs, directories and sale catalogues, as well as his study of the unpublished records of the Stationers' Guild of Dublin.