The publication of the first volume of A new history of Ireland to be issued from the press (volume iii of a set of nine volumes) is an event of the utmost significance in Irish historiography. It is the first-fruit of an ambitious proposal originally given an airing by Professor T. W. Moody in his presidential address to the Irish Historical Society in December 1962 and since pursued by him, through protracted discussions and negotiations, with rare tenacity, skill and devotion. In a longer perspective it is the culmination of forty years of sustained historical endeavour, which in its beginnings saw the foundation in 1936 of the Ulster Society for lrish Historical Studies and of the Irish Historical Society, and the first publication in 1938 of Irish Historical Studies, the journal sponsored by both societies, of which Professor Moody has since been joint editor.