I am lucky to have obtained over the years, several editions of the Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters, in both original and reprinted versions.  The photos on this page show:

1. 1)The original translation by Owen Connellan (1846) as a 2 new book set.
   

    This is the only version to have a four color frontis and giant folding family name map.

2. 2)A few years later, John O’Donovan came out with a 3 volume translation, which I have.
   

3. 3)O’Donovan later completed his entire translation with two more volumes, making a very rare 5 volume set.   That is correct, it was not published in 7 volumes originally.  I have one of the few surviving, complete 5 volume sets that exist today.
   

4. 4) O’Donovans 5 volume set had a problem.  The five volumes were too big to handle easily.  So, instructions and new title pages were included, that instructed one on how to make the large 5 volumes into 7 smaller volumes.   
   

    I have a rare original set of O’Donovans 3 and 5 volume sets, and of the modern reprint as a 7 book set.  I also have reprinted the orignal 2 volume set by Connellan.  They are

available if you are interested.