In the year 1794 a young man of the name of Wright, who was about to emigrate from his native country, had a number of books to dispose of, which chiefly consisted of Irish MSS.
They had been collected by the industry of a man of the name of Morris O'Gorman, who was clerk to Mary's-lane Chapel, and the person from whom Dr. Young, Bishop of Clonfert, and General Valancey, had learned Irish.
This man's library, which filled five large sacks, Mr. O'Reilly purchased from Wright, and on examination found himself possessed of a collection of the rarest MSS., for one of which he has since refused fifty guineas.
He was appointed assistant secretary to the Iberno-Celtic Society on its foundation the following year with the purpose of preserving and promoting Irish literature.
[4] Edward's older brother Andrew O'Reilly (1756 – 4 August 1862) was a United Irishman, the Paris correspondent for The Times and the author of the book "Reminiscences of an emigrant Milesian".