Coyne, Richard (1776/7–1856), printer and bookseller, was first in business in 1808 at 154 Capel Street, Dublin. In 1821 he took over the business of Hugh Fitzpatrick (qv) (d. 1818) at 4 Capel Street and from the following year he was described as ‘printer and bookseller to the College of Maynooth’ (a position previously held by Fitzpatrick). His many productions included reprints of the Rheims Bible, a cheap breviary for Maynooth students (1827), a new edition of Pierre Dens’ Theologia ad usum seminariorum et sacrae theologia alumnorum (8 vols, 1832) and the annual Ordo recitandi divini officii (1830–57).
Coyne was no mere tradesman. He dined with the catholic bishops at Maynooth and was a confidant of James Doyle (qv) of Kildare and Leighlin (who stayed with him in Dublin) whom he several times visited at Carlow and whose pamphlets he published between 1823 and 1831. He encouraged and aided one catholic priest, Thomas Maguire (qv), in a famous public debate with a protestant clergyman, Richard Pope (1799–1859), on matters of theological controversy. It took place in Dublin from 19 to 25 April 1827 and Coyne published its proceedings in a substantial volume that had large sales. Richard Coyne's interest in politics may be judged from the fact that in the early 1820s he allowed meetings of the Catholic Association to be held on his premises. He died 1 July 1856 aged seventy-nine. With his wife Honora O'Brien, he had an only son, Henry, who was called to the Irish bar in 1826. A later wife, Catherine, continued his business after his death and died 18 January 1863.