The Irish Ordnance memoir scheme attempted to produce wide-ranging ‘statistical’ memoirs on a national basis, to accompany the large-scale (six-inch) mapping of the country by the Irish Ordnance Survey. Dating to the early 1830s, the memoir scheme had a stop-start existence and only published a specimen account for the parish of Templemore, County Londonderry (1837). But the scheme's overall aims of economic improvement and cultural revival attracted considerable support from Irish society and the Irish press. Public calls for resumption after memoir activity was stopped in 1840 led to an investigatory commission of 1843–4, appointed by the prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, but the commission's favourable findings were then disputed by him, primarily on grounds of cost. This article examines the impact of the Edinburgh publishing house of William Blackwoods on the memoir commission. The first section investigates the influence of Scottish voluntaryism on the commission, while the second assesses the impact of the firm on the emerging publication proposals in the immediate aftermath of the report. The article argues that the memoir scheme was not a victim of British antipathy but expired from a failure of the principals, including Blackwoods, to agree publishing terms, and both assesses and contextualises the scheme's demise from this adjusted perspective.

中文翻译：

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“需要的是可以赚钱的信息”：William Blackwoods 和爱尔兰军械回忆录委员会 1843-4

爱尔兰军械回忆录计划试图在全国范围内制作广泛的“统计”回忆录，以配合爱尔兰军械测量局对该国进行的大规模（六英寸）测绘。追溯到 1830 年代初期，回忆录计划时断时续，只出版了伦敦德里郡坦普尔莫尔教区的样本记录（1837 年）。但该计划的经济改善和文化复兴的总体目标吸引了爱尔兰社会和爱尔兰媒体的大力支持。 1840 年回忆录活动停止后，公众呼吁恢复回忆录活动，导致成立了一个 1843-4 调查委员会，由首相罗伯特·皮尔爵士任命，但该委员会的有利调查结果随后遭到他的质疑，主要是出于成本原因。本文探讨了威廉·布莱克伍德的爱丁堡出版社对回忆录委员会的影响。第一部分调查了苏格兰志愿主义对委员会的影响，第二部分评估了该公司对报告发布后立即出现的出版提案的影响。文章认为，回忆录计划并不是英国反感的受害者，而是由于包括布莱克伍德在内的主要负责人未能就出版条款达成一致而终止，并且从这种调整的角度评估和背景化了该计划的失败。