21. Le Brocquy, Louis / Montague, John / [Dupin, Jacques] / [Samuel Beckett].

Small Archive of personal correspondence between irish-american writer John Montague and irish artist Louis Le Brocquy plus many related items. The correspondence also includes John Montague touching on Samuel Beckett. The core of the collection includes 1. Extremely insightful and important, very personal manuscript-letter from John Montague to Louis Le Brocquy – Inside an envelope addressed by John Montague to Louis Le Brocquy at his french residence ‘Domaine des Combes’ with Louis Le Brocquy’s answer carefully tucked into the same envelope, treasured by John Montague. The densely filled, very personal 4-page-manuscript letter from John Montague, is dated Christmas 1981, written after “a sabbatical [..] on a long tour which led me as far as Los Angeles” and is a strong reflection of John Montague’s personal struggles, thoughts and influences as a writer; he talks about his ten years of teaching in the US “after O’Riada’s death led to a vacuum” and “enduring the semi-bourgeois limbo of Cork”. Montague speaks about the time “after the harness came off” and he “felt quite strange, and after thirty years my stammer returned in painful, nearly uncontrollable force”. Montague even touches on his fears about his health and continues “I clocked into a clinic for a rest cure….so far liver excellent, so it is not Sean or Brendan all over again (in any case, loving the stuff, as you do, I can’t overdrink; the tastebuds are against it)”. Montague dives into comparisons with Samuel Beckett: “″Did you realize that Sam Beckett was under analysis at the Tavistock Clinic for two years ? – The early Beckett is a smart alec; the break comes when he has to survive in post-war France and accept “his own darkness”. Montague also touches on his struggle with his mother “Isn’t it terrible that we spend up to nearly middle-[a]ge coping with the traumas of youth, with no way round it ? – I have cleared/cleaned/buried & forgiven my mother in my next book “The Dead Kingdom”….” – The letter continues to talk about books, “the Landslide Manuscript”, poetry and his work etc. etc. He mentions a Dupin “play” which “will travel in my Paris luggage”. Montague also touches on the subject of the Irish Troubles and writes “I have always, by the way, believed that 1916 may have been a mistake as Yeats said: “For England may keep faith – For all is said and done” / Montague speaks about “My own area of Tyrone is blessedly free from all but minor incidents” – Amazing document of confidence and trust between two irish landmark personalities. 2. Louis Le Brocquy’s answer to John Montague is dated “New Year’s Day 1981”[which should have been 1982]: A. Very personal manuscript Letter – a direct answer to Montague’s letter from “Christmas 1981” (1 sheet with both pages filled in ink and signed “Louis”) in which Le Brocquy reflects on the tense political situation with Northern Ireland and the overall worldwide tension of a looming war / Le Brocquy writes that he did have a “wild hope that when Charlie took office…that he and Thatcher might between them opted a ‘Rhodesian’ solution in the North” / Le Brocquy also writes about the eagerly awaited publication of “Selected Poems” of John Montague and he also asks John if “you thought of collecting Esteban’s and Dupin’s poems in French with your translations ?” – Le Brocquy offers to help with illustrations etc. – Both letters together in an envelope which suggests that John Montague received his letter to Louis le Brocquy back from the Le Brocquy-estate after Le Brocquy’s death. / Also included: B. A manuscript postcard with Le Brocquy’s “Girl in White” as a postcard-reproduction in which Le Brocquy suggests a project with John Montague and sends greetings to Montague’s wife Evelyn and the kids (in envelope from Carros,France) / C. In his function as chairman of Amnesty International, Le Brocquy sends a callout by Amnesty International to John Montague and kindly asks him to support the cause. He sends the callout to John by adding a few manuscript, personal lines of affection (in envelope from Carros,France).

France / Ireland, Carros / Cork, 1980-1981. A4. 4 pages on two sheets (main Montague-letter), 2 pages on 1 sheet (Le Brocquy – answer), 1 postcard, 1 manuscript-letter from Jacques Dupin to John Montague (25.10.1978) about a translation of “L’Éboulement” (Dupin also speaks about Louis le Brocquy in the letter), several pages of letters (mostly typed and signed) from other figures in irish and international literature and art. Original Envelopes. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Besides some ephemeral materials from personalities in Literature and Art, addressed to John Montague, the small collection includes several vintage photographs of John Montague, taken during his acceptance of a honorary Doctorate of Literature at UCC, Cork, as well as a Legislative Resolution by the State of New York (Senator Daly), recognizing and thanking the distinguished author and poet John Montague with this decree on May 26, 1987. Among the lesser interesting materials is a pamphlet titled “Ireland’s Literary Renaissance – 20th century Portraits” in which portraits by Louis Le Brocquy of John Montague and Thomas Kinsella are included. The pamphlet is accompanied by a letter from James White to John Montague in which he explains this being a publication that was released for an exhibition in Chicago and he apologises for the entries being “necessarily short but hopefully reasonably correct”. Provenance: From the private collection of John Montague’s papers in his recently sold West Cork Home.

22. Curtayne, Alice.

Alice Curtayne and “Studies – An Irish Quarterly Review” – Irish Quarterly Scholarly Journal, historically published since the year 1912 by The Educational Company of Ireland / The Talbot Press / Messenger Publications for the Jesuits of Ireland. A Collection of momentarily 53 issues plus Index (1912-1961) of the Journal, including currently one identified issue with an Alice Curtayne – publication: 1. “Dante” – (In: “Studies” Summer/Autumn – Issue 1965).

Dublin, The Educational Company of Ireland / The Talbot Press, 1912 – 1969. Octavo. 53 Issues plus Index, with different amounts of pages and content. Overall c. 2800 pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with some issues with some stronger signs of wear but the majority of issues in firm and excellent condition. Some of the issues with annotations and some with a former library-stamp. Very rare run of this periodicals which invited contributions from other women writers like Mary M. Macken, Pamela Reilly, Helen Landreth, Eleanor Knott, Ethna Kavanagh, Lorna Reynolds, etc.

23. [Walter Benjamin Collection] – Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie. / [Paris during the World Exhibition in the Year 1900]

Collection of thirtyfour (34) original photographic glass-slides, allowing us to imagine the surroundings of Walter Benjamin’s “Arcades Project” and the Genesis of his Idea of “Paris as the Capital of the 19th Century”. While the Glass-Slides are NOT from Benjamin’s library or from one of his friends collections, they are contemporary artefacts which allow us to Timetravel into the Paris of Benjamin’s “Arcades” and illustrate Benjamin’s creation of the six sections of his “Arcades Project”: “Fourier, or the Arcades” ; “Daguerre, or the Panoramas”; “Grandville, or the World Exhibitions” ; “Louis-Philippe, or the Interior”; “Baudelaire, or the Streets of Paris”; “Hausmann, or the Barricades”. The slides were produced by Parisien Radio-Brom manufacturer of photographic plates and papers, “Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie”. The fantastic slides all produced around the time of the 1900 Paris Exposition (World’s Fair), known in french as “Exposition Universelle” in Paris. Included are photographic plates of the “Theatre Sarah-Bernhardt” at the “Place du Chatelet”, “Le Louvre”, “Paris – Buttes-Chaumont – Le Lac & Le Belvedere”, “Avenue de L’Opera”, “Place de Victoires”, “Gare St.Lazare – Rue de Rome”, L’Institut pris du pont des Arts”, “Gare Montsouris”, “Monument de Pasteur – Avenue de Breteuil”, “La Seine et L’Hotel de Ville”, “Pont au Change”, “Les Tuileries – avec “Charmeur d’Oiseaux”, “Le Conseil d’Etat”, “Avenue des Champs Elysees”, “Palais de Justice, Boulevard du Palais”, “Pont ALexandre III”, “Square d’Anvers”, “Grand Palais”, “Fontaine de Carpeaux”, “Jardin des Plantes” “Galerie de la Plaeontologie”, “Place du Carrousel – Arc de Triomphe”, “De Notre Dame sur l’Hotel Dieu – Tour St.Jacques – Sacre Coeur”, etc. Also included are some private images of family, picnic in the forests etc.

Paris, Exposition Universelle of 1900 / Guilleminot, Bœspflug et Cie., [c.1900]. 10.7 cm x 4.4 cm. 34 slides in three boxes (one of the boxes labelled: “Diapositifs de Verascope Richard”. Original Hardcover Boxes with glass-slides. Excellent condition with some minor signs of wear only.

24. Gilpin, William. [Castle-Freke Library Bookplates]

Collection of four Volumes (bound in two) by Gilpin – All from the historical library at Castle Freke (Castlefreke, West Cork / Ireland). The Volumes include: I. & II. Observations Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1776, on Several Parts of Great Britain; particularly the High-Lands of Scotland. [Second Edition, with an “Account of the Prints” bound to the rear] / III. Observations on the River Wye and several Parts of South Wales &c. relative chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; Made in the summer of the Year 1770 (Third Edition). / IV. An Essay on Prints – [″The chief intention of the following work was to put the elegant amusement of collecting prints, on a more rational footing; by giving the unexperienced collector a few principles and cautions to assist him”] (Fourth Edition with the printed dedication “To the Honorable Horace Walpole in Deference to his Taste in the Polite Arts; and the Valuable Researches he has made to improve them; the following work is inscribed by his most obedient and very humble servant, William Gilpin”). [Volumes I & II with 40 original illustrations and vintage 18th century maps [correctly 39 illustrations and one table], for example of Loch Lomond and the Firth of Forth/ all illustrations are vintage mezzotint-plates].

Mixed Editions. Four Volumes (bound in two). London, Printed for R. Blamire, Strand, 1792. Octavo. Pagination: Volume I: XI, [1], 221 pages with 24 mezzotints / Volume II: 195, XVI pages with 16 mezzotints and an “Account of the Prints” as well as “Translations of Latin Passages” / [Volume III]: [River Wye]: XVI, 152 pages with 16 (of 17) full – page mezzotints / [Volume IV]: [An Essay on Prints]: XIII, [3], 174 pages plus XI pages Index and 1 page Errata. Hardcover / Early 19th century quarter – morocco with gilt lettering and ornament on spine. Both volumes bound in unison. Very good + condition with only minor signs of external wear. Pages 185 – 191 of Volume I with some stronger browning. Otherwise the interior very clean. All mezzotints in very good or even better condition. This is the original copy from the historical Castle-Freke Library in West Cork (Ireland), with two armorial bookplates to front and rear pastedown with the family’s motto ‘Pro Patria’. With two pages of manuscript annotations by a contemporary hand with a reference between the common name “Tarbet” in Scotland and a place-name in County Kerry in Ireland” (pages 13 of Volume II) / another entry is on page 12 of Volume II regarding the name-sake “Loch-Loung” for a Lake of ships in Scotland and Ireland.

25. [John Minihan Collection] – Minihan, John. (*1946)

“Self-Portrait – Looking into a window on Rue de L’Odeon where James Joyce and Hemingway keep [sic] court at the bookshop known as Shakespeare and Co., On the occasion of the portrait. I had just left after photographing Samuel Beckett who was no stranger to the bookshop. Paris, 1985.”

Rare, modern print of the 1985 Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London, c. 2017. Photograph: c. 38 cm wide x 50 cm high / Framed: 47 cm wide x 60 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.

26. [John Minihan Collection] – Minihan, John. (*1946)

Artist Francis Bacon photographed at the Claude Bernard Gallery, Paris, 1977, behind the Artist is Triptych One, 1976. Bacon was no Stranger to Paris, the city of Light, its where it all started for him as an Artist (Copyright John Minihan).

Rare, modern print of the 1977 Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London, c. 2016. Photograph: c. 50 cm wide x 38 cm high / Framed: 60 cm wide x 47 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.

27. [John Minihan Collection] – [Higgins, Michael D.] Minihan, John. (*1946)

“President Michael D. Higgins pictured with his dog Bród at his Residence Áras an Uachtaráin. Dublin, Ireland, March 2017.”

Rare Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London / Skibbereen, 2017. Photograph: c. 38 cm wide x 50 cm high / Framed: 47 cm wide x 60 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.

28. [John Minihan Collection] – [Beckett, Samuel] Minihan, John. (*1946)

Samuel Beckett, photographed from the back after directing his Masterpiece ‘Waiting for Godot’ at The Riverside Studios, Hammersmith – London, 1984”.

Rare, modern print of the 1984 Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London, c. 2016. Photograph: c. 38 cm wide x 50 cm high / Framed: 47 cm wide x 60 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.

29. [John Minihan Collection] – [Beckett, Samuel] Minihan, John. (*1946)

“Samuel Beckett photographed at the Hyde Park Hotel, Room 604, London 1980. Beckett was in London to direct ‘Endgame’ at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith”.

Rare, modern print of the 1980 Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London, c. 2016. Photograph: c. 38 cm wide x 50 cm high / Framed: 47 cm wide x 60 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.

30. [John Minihan Collection] – [Beckett, Samuel] Minihan, John. (*1946)

“Samuel Beckett looking at one of his books that featured drawings by the Paris Artist Avigdor Arikha – Riverside Studios, London 1984”.

Rare, modern print of the 1984 Original / Vintage Photograph on archival paper. London, c. 2017. Photograph: c. 38 cm wide x 50 cm high / Framed: 47 cm wide x 60 cm high. Titled and signed by John Minihan. From John Minihan’s personal library. Mounted and framed.