he first issue of T.C.D. - A College Miscellany was published in 1895 under the editorship of George Freeman Irwin, and continued for over 80 years with remarkable consistency of format and design. Its content was heavily influenced by the recently defunct literary magazine Kottabos - A College Miscellany, containing as it did several pages of original poetry and prose in each fortnightly issue. It did, however, begin to contain items of college news, trivia and gossip, so becoming the forerunner of the modern campus newspapers that are now published in most of Ireland’s large universities.

As time went by, this newspaper function became more important and Trinity’s literary set deemed it necessary to set up a magazine devoted entirely to poetry and prose (Icarus, 1950). Not satisfied with how T.C.D. was discharging its newsgathering duties, students set up Trinity News, first published in 1953. With very different styles and priorities, but considerable overlap in subject matter, the two newspapers were fierce rivals. Eventually, and tragically, T.C.D. ran out of steam towards the end of the 1970s, and ceased publication in 1979.

It was replaced immediately by New Miscellany, a satirical magazine in rather than same mould as The Piranha, under the editorship of Phillippa Cannon. This, too, lost its way and through the 1980s issues appeared sporadically.

The magazine took on a new lease of life in 1995, when the publication’s 100th aniversary sparked a renewal of interest. Ben Walsh became editor and restored the old name of T.C.D. – A College Miscellany to the publication. Since then, while publication in a given year is often limited to one or two issues, volumes have appeared consistently and in increasingly high quality. Later editors have tended to shorten the magazine’s title to plain Miscellany, or T.C.D. Miscellany as in the most recent volume.

Among the many accomplished men - and they were all men until Gillian Malcomson in 1952 - to edit the magazine in its early years were John E. Healy and Alec Newman, both of whom went on to edit The Irish Times. Renowned classical scholars like Benjamin Farrington, Leopold Richardson and William Bedell Stanford also took a turn at the helm during their student days, as did men of religion (George Otto Simms and David Stewart Cross were both bishops) and of the law (most famously, Theodore Kingsmill Moore of the Irish Supreme Court). In latter years Miscellany has been primarily steered by people who would go on to careers in the media (Alex Massie, Ken Early) or politics (James Nix, Heledd Fychan).

Perhaps our most celebrated editor, however, was Conor Cruise O'Brien, a polymath whose career encompassed politics, journalism, academia and the diplomatic corps. His eclectic output and wide-ranging intellect perfectly captures the spirit of the Miscellany as it is today.

Miscellany publishes from October to April, within the College term, articles on any topic calculated to be of interest to the student readership. Comment, reflection or salacious gossip concerning the internal life of the College are particularly encouraged but no subject matter is off limits. Submissions are welcomed from any Trinity students, graduates or staff; feel free to contact the current editor for details.