Stamp duty for iconic Kilkenny building celebrating man who strove to educate the world
BY COLIN BARTLEY
AN ICONIC Kilkenny building, built by a man who left a legacy of learning worldwide, is to be immortalised in a specially designed stamp.
The Carnegie Library on John’s Quay, Kilkenny will be celebrated in stamp form by An Post, marking the centenary of the death of Scottish philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie.
Carnegie’s generosity changed the face of Ireland through his endowment of grants to build more than eighty libraries across the country, the library in Kilkenny is one of four selected to be printed on stamps to mark this special occasion.
Amazingly, 62 of the buildings he paid to build are still in use today.
The four stamps feature drawings of four Irish Carnegie Libraries by Irish artist Dorothy Smith and apart from the building in Kilkenny are the libraries at Clondalkin, Enniskerry, County Wicklow, and Athea, County Limerick.
Carnegie offered library grants between 1897 and 1913 in numerous countries around the world. Over 3,000 libraries were built worldwide.
Carnegie emigrated with his family to the US in the late 19th century and became one of the world’s richest men, making his fortune in steel.
