DUBLIN

4pp, 16mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. With embossed armorial letterhead. Good firm signature: 'Clara Novello.' An interesting letter, casting light on the practical arrangement of musical concerts in Victorian Britain and Ireland. The recipient is not named, and the letter begins: 'Dear Sir, | I have not heard from Mr. Bussell of your Concert, but on receipt of your favor of the 15th. consider myself engaged to Belfast for the 1st.

The recipient was a brother of the geologist and inventor Robert Were Fox the Younger (1789-1877), whose magnetic dip compass, constructed in the previous year, is the 'instrument' referred to at the end of the letter. (Fox's compass was used by Sir James Clark Ross on his Antarctic expedition, and was later used to discover the position of the South magnetic pole.) 1p, 4to. In fair condition, aged and creased, with traces of paper mount adhering to one edge, and repair to a closed tear with archival tape. Several folds.

1p, 4to. In good condition, with slight creasing to extremities, on a leaf of 'Onion Skin' paper. A sixteen line poem in three stanzas, beneath which is written, boldly and in pencil: 'W B. Stanford | Trinity College | Dublin'. The poem is one of Stanford's best and best-known, and features in Donagh MacDonagh's 'Poems from Ireland' (1944) and Brendan Kennelly's 'Penguin Book of Irish Verse' (1970). The present version exhibits no variations from the text printed by Kennelly.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-creased grey paper. Addressed to 'Dear Prof Brunbaugh'. He explains that Brunbaugh's letter of 19 September 'went into a large collective envelope marked “For attention”', adding 'You can guess what that means. It is lucky ever to have come out.' He has 'made a copy of a short poem' for Brunbaugh, and hopes that he will go and see him when he next comes to Ireland.

1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. The letter reads: 'Dear Wilson. | I have just returned from U.S.A. & am going next Monday or Tuesday to Donegal for a much needed holiday. I expect to be away a month. If your friend is in Dublin when I come back I will be glad to see him But in a month I will be out of the world. | Yours ever | AE'

On one side of 7 x 11.5 cm piece of watermarked laid paper, cut from the letter's envelope, in his bol hand. In fair condition, though somewhat ruckled and aged. Entirely in O'Donnell's hand, and laid out in the customary fashion, with the signature 'Daniel O Connell' between two lines at bottom left. Addressed: 'Dublin December Sixteen [corrected by O'Connell 'eighteen | D O C'] | 1834 | Messs Cox & Co | Army Agents | Craigs Court | London'.

The signature ('Robert S Ball') is on a 3.5 x 11 cm slip of paper, laid down on a piece of light-grey paper cut from an album, with the letterhead 'OBSERVATORY, | CAMBRIDGE' on a second slip laid down on the same piece. In good condition, lightly-aged.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Palace Dublin | Sept 28/74 | Madam | I send you the autograph which you desire. | Yr. obedt. Servt | Richd. C. Dublin | Miss Julia Glover'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with punch holes at margin. MacEntee begins his letter to Hickey: 'In the tribute which “The Statist” pays to the late Hilaire Belloc a reference is made to his essay on usury. I read this some time ago but cannot recall the title of the volume in which it appeared. I should be grateful, indeed, if you would be kind enough to make good the lacuna by supplying the missing title.' He congratulates Hickey 'on the article itself'.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged. She thanks her for her 'tribute to my book', adding: 'Fancy you thinking that I lived in Australia! My brother to whom I gave a dedication lives there. I never get further than Monkstown which is part of Dunlaoghaire.' She ends by observing that Cond's letter 'seems to have been a long time travelling'. Beatrice Coogan was the daughter of a policeman, a Dublin socialite who was crowned Dublin's Civic Queen of Beauty in 1927. She was the author of 'The Big Wind', won the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 'Novel of the Year' in 1969.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Mr. [ Park? ], the Artist, of Dublin, has this day written me word that he has some intention of coming to settle in London in the ensuing winter.' He urges Spencer to 'get him to deliver a course of Lectures on Painting at the Surrey Institution. From speeches which I have heard him deliver, I should think his language & delivery well calculated for the purpose & likely to render him popular.' He explains that he is prevented from writing himself by a 'complaint in my eyes'.

Six substantial ledgers (the heaviest 37 x 41 x 8 cm, and the widest 39 x 52 x 3 cm), containing itemised accounts providing a mass of information regarding the tobacco industry and economic history in Ireland, and one of Dublin's notable employers, whose sales in the 1950s were in the tens of millions. (On 9 December 2004 the Irish Times described the closure of the plant as marking 'the end of an era'. The firm's first Dublin factory, at 56-75 Botanic Road, was constructed by G. & T. Crampton in 1923, and is now the Botanic Business Centre.

2pp., 4to. Closely written, with forty-three lines of text, in a somewhat difficult hand. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper with closed tear and creasing at head of leaf. The letter is written to a relation, after Flood has been shown a letter by 'yr Cousin, L[ad]y Flood', in which the recipient complains of having been 'injur'd or slandered'. It is Flood's intention in the letter to show that 'the business &c has been wholly misunderstood'. He also states that 'the view of imploying you proceeded from friendship strengthened by connexion'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He is obliged for Brown's letter, 'pointing out misprints in my father's works. | Such communications are always valuable.' He is happy to say that 'young Bliss is working very well, & we shall make a good business man of him'.

4pp., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with closed tears along the fold between the two leaves of the bifolium. Trench's publishers were 'John W. Parker & Son, West Strand'. The letter begins: 'I heartily wish that I could go to the press at once with the 3rd. Edition of the Parables. [ 'Notes on the Parables of Our Lord', first published in 1841 ] I have been however working hard at them & they are nearly ready.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, aged and worn. The breaking open of the wafer has resulted in slight loss at the beginning of Maturin's signature. Addressed on reverse to 'William Spooner Esqre | at Mr Millikin's | Grafton Street'. (His not writing of 'Dublin' implies that he is writing from the same place.) Maturin was the great-uncle of Oscar Wilde, who adopted the name 'Sebastian Melmoth' during his self-exile on the continent.

Piece of paper, approximately 15 x 21 cm, torn from the second and concluding leaf of a bifolium. Aged and worn, with repair to a closed tear. Burke's signature is at the foot, preceded by writing in another hand, thus: 'Hugh Mc. Mahon respectively. | I am, | Sir, | Your Obedient Servant, | J H Burke'. On the reverse, in ink: 'Chief Secretary Office D.C | Authority to discharge John & Hugh McMahon | also | Edward, Patrick & Bernard Mc.Swine | on entering into Bail self £2. with two Sureties £5 each.' Beneath this, at foot: 'Recd. & Ansd. | Discharged'.

6 + [1]pp., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damp staining at head. The report, by 'G. R. Dawson, Chairman', is on pp.1-5; p.6 carries resolutions 'Extracted from the Minutes, | James Marshall, Secretary.' Much of the report is taken up with 'a Qui tam Action [...] brought by the Bank of Ireland against the Provincial Bank [...] the object of the Bank of Ireland in that Action, was to question the right of the Provincial Bank to exchange its Notes in Dublin; a right which, from the commencement of business until that time, it had exercised without challenge'.

32pp., 8vo. Stitched. With leaf tipped-in carrying a one-page addendum transcript of a 'Letter from His Eminence Cardinal Manning', 1887. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. In illustrated wraps printed in green and yellow, the front cover carrying an illustration of 'St. Patrick receiving the Commission at Rome from Pope Celestine I. to preach the Gospel to the Irish People'; the back cover with illustration of 'St. Patrick preaching to the Irish Chieftains at Tara'. Over the last five pages, in small type, is a 'List of Contributors'.

The eight range in size from 14 x 10 cm to 11.5 x 10 cm. Most are heavily faded, almost to the point of indistinguishableness, but presumably recoverable using modern computer techniques. Each is stamped on the front 'PROOF TO BE RETURNED TO LAFAYETTE, LONDON'. Each with pencil note on the back identifying the sitter as 'Mrs. Harrington', with reference number and date in October 1905. From the papers of Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington, the sitter being identified by reference from other material therein.

38 + [1]pp., folio. Disbound. In fair condition, on aged paper, with the first leaf chipped and frayed at edges. Repaginated with a stamp 119-158. Kilmainham Hospital was a home for retired soldiers along the lines of Les Invalides, and much of the material in this paper consists of correspondence of Secretaries of State for War John Cam Hobhouse and Edward Ellice. The volume is a response to Hobhouse's proposal 'to bring into one building, and under one management, the several establishments of the in-pensioners of Chelsea and of Kilmainham hospitals.

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Arnold, whose conversion to Roman Catholicism hindered his academic dvancement in England, was grandfather of the writer Aldous Huxley, and taught James Joyce at Dublin. At the time of writing he was running a private tutoring establishment at Oxford. He begins the letter by explaining that it has hardly been possible to reply to Hutchinson 'during term time [...] I had so much work on my hands'.

12pp, small 4to. Disbound. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. In small type and double column. An item of surprising rarity considering its historical importance: no other copy traced, either on ESTC, WorldCat, COPAC or at the National Library of Ireland. Sandys, who has been described as 'the earliest engraver of any importance in Ireland', was also notable as the printer from 1705 of the 'Dublin Gazette'. The previous year he had published 'Articles of the Treaty of Union, agreed on by the Commissioners of both Kingdoms, on the 22d of July, 1706' (ESTC N471342).

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Aged and lightly-stained, wih a few closed tears repaired with archival tape. Addressed to 'A. Harris Esqr. | The Shelbourne Hotel | Dublin.' He thanks him for sending his article, which he had already read 'in the Contemporary with great interest'. He has 'spoken to several persons of influence in connection with our existing educational systems, recommending them to read it carefully.

1p., 12mo. On aged and stained paper, with small spike hole. Reads: '23rd Oct. 1858 | My dear Sir | I have given Sergeant Glover of the M[orning] Chronicle a Private Box for Monday. | Yours entirely | J. W. Cole'.

Piece of paper, 10 x 4, black border one side, edges sl. ragged, mounts on reverse (formerly in album), text clear as follows: We remain Dr Sir | Yours very truly | Arthur E. Guinness | Jonathan Pim".

8pp., 8vo. Saddle-stitched into grey printed wraps. Printed in double column. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Inscribed at head of front cover to 'Profr. Richardson | with R. M. Butler's compts.' Covering the history of the city from the time of Ptolemy to the advent of the electric tram. Ends by noting the extensive rebuilding in the city, 'in part due to the reconstruction of areas destroyed in 1916 and 1922'. Scarce: no copies on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

On one side of a small skin (c.35 x 43 cm). In fair condition: somewhat worn and aged. Laid out in the usual fashion, with embossed tax stamp in margin. Signed on gutter 'Meath' and 'Arth; Thomas', with the signatories two seals in red wax (both cracked and with some loss). In English. Signatures of the two witnesses on reverse: 'Nichs. Thompson' and 'Joh Morrisson'. Scan on application.

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Never having forgotten that you once asked me "What is the sense of knowing Mrs Lynd if you don't make use of her?" I am sending you a spare set of proofs of the new book. The publishers, having made me add thousands of words to it, now tell me that it is a bit too long'. The second part of the letter refers to a visit by 'Lennox [i.e. Lennox Robinson] and his wife [...] He has just been doing June in Belfast, he has Aodh de Blacam's translation, A Saint in a Hurry!

28pp., 8vo. Stapled and unbound. No covers. Outer leaves creased and staples rusted, otherwise in good condition on aged paper. Includes the manifesto of the Irish Dominion League, and articles by Conor O Brien ('Wanted: A Social Policy'), James Stephens ('The Story of Tuan Mac Cairill'), Thomas Bodkin ('The Hone Bequest'); H. F. Norman ('Our Musical Legacy'); Sir Horace Plunkett ('Correspondence: The Irish Dominion League') and John Eglinton ('Life and Letters').