Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968) was one of the greatest collectors of the twentieth century, and an extraordinary friend to Ireland. As a young mining engineer in New York, Beatty was already a discerning collector of European and Persian manuscripts as well as Chinese snuff bottles and Japanese netsuke.

It was in the decades following his relocation to London in 1913, however, that he built the greater part of his collection. During a family trip to Egypt in 1914, he developed a fascination for Islamic manuscripts, while a journey to Asia in 1917 added Japanese and Chinese painting to his interests. His eye was drawn to rare books, richly illustrated material, fine bindings and calligraphy, but at the same time he was deeply committed to preserving texts for their historic value. Beatty returned time and again to Egypt, and it was there that he acquired his outstanding biblical papyri in the 1920s.

Beatty’s collection developed over his lifetime and so, by the time of his death, he had assembled not just exceptional Islamic, East Asian and biblical manuscripts but also important Persian, Turkish, Armenian and Western European holdings as well as Burmese, Thai and Nepalese manuscripts. Despite the diversity of the material he acquired, the collection is unified by Beatty’s desire to seek out objects of the greatest rarity and finest quality. Bequeathed by Beatty to the Irish nation—and today housed in the Chester Beatty in the grounds of Dublin Castle—his collection is a resource for scholars as well as a leading cultural attraction, enjoyed by visitors from Ireland and from around the world.