Dick's Coffee House

Dick's Coffee House was a significant Irish coffeehouse in the 17th and 18th century.[1][2][3]

Dick's was one of Dublin's most famous and long lasting coffeehouses, established by Richard Pue in the late 17th century,[4] at some point before July 1698. Pue was a bookseller and owned one of Ireland's earliest newspapers, Pue's Occurences.[5][6] Dick's was housed in Skinner's Row (now Christchurch Place), on the drawing room floor of Carberry House, which had previously been the home of the Earl of Kildare.[1] The London bookseller, John Dunton, held auctions in Dick's in 1698. Pue ran his printing workshop from the same premises, printing for a number of Dublin publishing houses.[4] Thomas Bacon held auctions in Dick's from the 1760s, and printed his paper the Dublin Gazette from there for a time. Land and property auctions were also held from Dick's from the 1730s.[7] The printer and bookseller, Sarah Cotter, operated from the coffee house from 1751 to 1774, taking over from her brother who worked from there from 1744 until his death in 1751.[8]

The customers of Dick's were described in 1740: "Ye citizens, gentlemen, lawyers and squires, Who summer and winter surround our great fires, Ye quidnuncs! who frequently come into Pue's, To live upon politicks, coffee, and news."[2][9]

After Richard Pue's death in 1722, his wife Elizabeth ran the coffee house and printing business, which in turn their son Richard took over from her by 1731. The business then passed to Richard's nephew, James Pue and his wife Sarah.[10] The coffee house closed around 1780, when Carberry House was demolished.[1]

References

1. Kennedy, Máire. "Dublin Coffee Houses". Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
2. Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín (2012-05-02). "Coffee Culture in Dublin: A Brief History". M/C Journal. 15 (2).
3. "Dublin's First Coffee Houses". Dublin City Architect's Blog. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
4. "Dublin's 18th-century Coffee Houses". mairekennedybooks. 2016-09-06. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
5. Ferguson, Stephen (2016). The post office in Ireland : an illustrated history. Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland. p. 15. ISBN 9781911024415. OCLC 981912248.
6. O'Riordan, Turlough (2009). "Pue, Richard)". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7. Munter, Robert (2010). The history of the Irish newspaper, 1685-1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 49, 159. ISBN 0521131162. OCLC 609680279.
8. Andrews, Helen (2009). "Cotter, Sarah". In McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). Dictionary of Irish Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
9. Gilbert, John T. (1972). A History of the City of Dublin. Shannon: University Press. ISBN 071650605X.
10. Pollard, Mary (2000). A dictionary of members of the Dublin book trade 1550-1800. London: Bibliographical Society. pp. 473–474. ISBN 0948170115. OCLC 45399214.

Further reading

• Morash, Christopher (2010), A History of the Media in Ireland, Cambridge University Press.