1. 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.

2. O’Connor, Roger / O’Connor, Arthur – [Provenance: Henry Daniel Conner – Manch House].

Roger O’Connor & Arthur O’Connor – Collection. A set of five Titles (in six Volumes) from the Library of Henry Daniel Conner and Daniel Conner at Manch House (Ballineen / Dunmanway]. Rare Volumes connected to the History of the Brothers Roger O’Connor [″Chronicles of Eri”] and Arthur O’Connor [″United Irishmen”]. From the 18th-19th century library at Manch House. The collection includes: 1. [O’Connor, Roger] Captain Rock – Letters to His Majesty, King George the Fourth. [This is the Volume owned by the Conner – Family of Manch House and it bears the Bookplate of Henry Daniel Conner] / 2. O’Connor, Arthur [United Irishman] & O’Connor, Roger [Irish Nationalist and Publisher of The Chronicles of Eri] / 3. G.B. O’Connor – O’Connor, G.B. Irish and other Fragments. [Includes the following essays: Irish Ethical Problems / Marshal Saxe and Diminishing Populations / The Irish Republican Demand / The Anglo-Saxon Myth / Irish Facts and Foreign Fictions / The Irish and the Law / Some Anglo-Irish Writers / A National Delusion / The Irish Lord Lieutenant]. Dublin, Hodges, Figgis & Co., no year (c. 1920). Small Octavo. 73 pages. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. A very rare book ! / 4. [O’Connor, Arthur / United Irishmen] Hayter-Hames, Jane. Arthur O’Connor, United Irishman. Cork, Collins Press, 2001. 24 cm. xi, 338 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector’s mylar. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear / 5. [Fox, Charles James] / [Arthur O’Connor] / Trotter, John Bernard [Late Private Secretary to Mr.Fox] Memoirs of the Latter Years of the Honourable Charles James Fox [with a lengthy report on a meeting with Irish Revolutionary Arthur O’Connor in Calais]. Third Edition. London, Printed for Richard Phillips, 1811. Includes a longer section in which John Bernard Trotter discusses a chance meeting of Fox with irish Revolutionary, Arthur O’Conno, in a section called the “Independent conduct towards Mr.O’Connor [Arthur O’Connor, brother of Roger O’Connor]: “An incident occured at Calais, which as it excited much remark, and roused a good deal of censure at the time, I shall advert to more length than would otherwise be necessary. It happened that Mr.Arthur O’Connor had arrived at the inn at which we stopped very shortly before. He waited on Mr.Fox, was received by him with that urbanity and openness which distinguished him, and was invited to dinner by him, which invitation he accepted of. It is is well known that, after a long confinement at Fort George, he, and some other Irish gentlemen, agreed with the Irish Government to expatriatethemselves for life. Mr.O’Connor was now on his way to Paris accordingly; when chance brought him to Quillac’s Inn, at the same time with Mr.Fox. His manners were extremely pleasing….” Trotter continues at length to elaborate on the meeting and conduct of Arthur O’Connor, their subsequent visit to the Theatre and three other times of meeting in Calais.

Dublin / London, 1797-1828. Octavo. Hardcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. See full description of these titles on our website under “Libraries and Collections”.

3. [Provenance: Manch House – Daniel Conner & Henry Langfield Conner Library] – [Spenser, Edmund / Campion, Edmund / Hanmer, Meredith / Marlborough, Henry of].

Ancient Irish Histories – The Works of Spencer, Campion, Hanmer and Marleburrovgh [sic] – In Two Volumes. Volume I: Containing Spencer’s View of the State of Ireland and Campion’s Historie of Ireland / Volume II: Containing Doctor Meredith Hanmer’s and Henry Marlebvrrough’s ‘Chronicles of Ireland’.

First Hibernia Press Edition in the year 1809 of the original 1633-Edition. Two Volumes [complete set]. Dublin, Printed by the Society of Stationers / Reprinted at the Hibernia Press, for the Proprietors, by John Morrison, 1809. Large Octavo. Pagination: Volume I: [2], 22, [4] pages, including the rare, engraved dedication-leaf with allegorical vignette for the “Dublin Society” [showing the Irish Harp etc.], [10], 266, [8], 204 pages plus one errata-leaf / Volume II: [4], 410, [II], 32 pages. Hardcover / Original, 19th century publisher’s binding. Now professionally restored by a professional bookbinder. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Binding with some staining. Deckled edges. Name of pre-owner, H.L.Conner. to both title-pages.

4. Evans-Freke, John [Lord Carbery] / Castle Freke [Rathbarry] / Castlefreke Library Bookplate.

Collection of Books and Art with a relation to Castle Freke. Some of the books being from the historical library of Castle Freke with the original Exlibris / Bookplate / Some of the books from the libraries and private collections of relatives to the Freke Family / Some of the books by famous writer Mary Carbery, wife of Algernon [″Algy”] William George Evans-Freke, 9th Baron Carbery of Castle Freke, County Cork, Ireland, until his death in 1898. At least one book with direct connections to “Algy” Evans-Freke and Mary Carbery.

Ireland, 1811 – c. 1950 Octavo. Hardcover Editions. Find detailed descriptions and many photographs on all these titles on our website under “Library & Collections” [Castle Freke Collection”].

5. Bolster, John / [Callanan, Jeremiah Joseph] / Letitia Elizabeth Landon [L.E.L.]/ Sloane, Hans.

Bolster’s Quarterly Magazine. Volume I. No. I (February, 1826) – Volume I. No. IV (November, 1826).

Cork, John Bolster, Patrick Street, 1826. Octavo. VIII, 394 pages. Hardcover / Original Half-Leather with gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with some minor rubbing to the boards and corners. Interior very good with only occasional signs of foxing. A very rare Cork publication with some extremely scarce, often anonymously published essays on local history, poetry etc. The publications signed with J.J.C. are by Corkonian Jeremiah Joseph Callanan. Name of 19th century preowner on endpaper: “Michael Higgins”.

6. [Castle Townshend / Castletownsend] Hardy, Philip Dixon.

Dublin Penny Journal – Volume III – No.105 (July1834) – Volume IV – No.207 (June 1836) [With a rare appearance of two early images of “Castle Townsend” and “Castle Townsend Harbour” and a printed Letter from Cork, August 21, 1834 and another from Cork, August 25th, 1834 by F.H.T. on Castle Townsend and its Harbour. WIth a strong mention of places in the area like Toe Head, Gallyhead, Cape Clear, Sandy Cove, Reen, The Stags in the Harbour, sent to the Penny Journal by F.H.T. (possibly a member of the Townsend – Family)].

Two Volumes in One [Volume III and IV of the Dublin Penny Journal complete]. Dublin, Philip Dixon Hardy, July 1834 – June 1836. Quarto (19 cm wide x 27.7 cm high). Pagination: Volume III: Frontispiece, VII, [1 List of Engravings], 416 pages with 211 illustrations throughout Volume III / Volume IV: XVI, VII, [1 List of Engravings], 416 pages with 173 illustrations. Hardcover / Original half-leather with gilt lettering on spine. Binding poor and spine split but still holding. An extremely rare Volume with hundreds of interesting illustrations of local irish history, many of which are showing places in Munster.

7. [Anonymous].

Guide to Killarney and Glengariff. With a Map and Six Plates.

New Edition, revised and corrected. Dublin, William Curry, Jun. and Company, 1835. 11 cm x 17 cm. Frontispiece, [4], 130 pages. Hardcover / Original publisher’s cloth with spinelabel and label on frontcover. Some staining to the binding but otherwise firm and with the original endpapers intact. Interior in very good condition besides some pages and illustrations being a little dusty. Few illustrations with faded dampstain. Rare and early publication for the tourist in 19th century Ireland. With name of prewoner in ink on titlepage: “Robert Morrison, Shanakiel, Cork”.

8. Ellis, William [Provenance: William Splaine and N. Splaine – Bandon Grammar School 1840].

A Collection of English Exercises – Translated From the Writings of Cicero, For School-Boys to Re-Translate Into Latin; And Adapted to the Principal Rules in The Eton Syntax; With Occasional References to Other Grammars. Sixteenth Edition, in which the Translation has been carefully compared with the Original and Corrected and to which are prefixed, Rules for the Use of the Subjunctive Mood. [Including a Preface of Thomas Dix Hincks of Fermoy School, made to the eighth edition in 1818].

London, Longman & Co., 1839. Small Octavo (10,5 cm x 18 cm). XXVIII, 269, [3] pages. Hardcover / Original full eather with gilt ornament to spine. In protective Mylar. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Several manuscript entries by preowners of the William Splaine – Family in Bandon.

9. [Cork – West Cork / County Kerry History Pre-Famine] Nicholson, Asenath.

Ireland’s Welcome To The Stranger or An Excursion through Ireland in 1844 & 1845, for the Purpose of Personally Investigating the Condition of the Poor.

First Edition. New York, Baker and Scribner, 1847. Small Octavo. XV, 456 pages plus 22 pages of a catalogue for the publisher Baker and Scribner in the rear. Hardcover / Original publisher’s cloth with gilt lettering on spine and ornament to covers. Recently, professionally restored. Very good condition with the usual signs of some browning and foxing to this publication. From the library of Lathrop Josiah Tracy, Honesdale, Pennsylvania (1825-1897). With his name to the halftitle. A very rare and important book !

10. [The Rare Volume One] – O’Brien, Fitz-James.

The Diamond Lens [14 pages in: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume I – January, 1858 – No. III] – Here on Offer is a the original bound inaugural Volume I of “The Atlantic Monthly”, signed and inscribed, possibly by a distant family-member of Fitz-James O’Brien: “D.D.O’Brien, Mallow” – “Presented by D.D.O’Brien to L. O’Kelly”. A later, 19th century ownership-signature is: “John L. Williams”. The entire Volume includes the following numbers: Volume I – November 1857 – No.I. / Volume I – December 1857 – No. II. / Volume I – January 1858 – No. III. / Volume I – February 1858 – No. IV. / Volume I – March 1858 – No. V. / Volume I – April 1858 – No. VI //

Boston, The Atlantic Monthly, 1857-1858. Octavo. IV, 768 pages. Hardcover / Original Half-leather with gilt lettering on spine. Binding in poor but still good + condition with some stronger signs of wear, spine starting, mild foxing throughout and some faded damp-staining to the outer paper-margins inside only. Endpaper, Half-title and titlepage slightly detached. This is the very rare inaugural Atlantic Volume with a wonderful irish provenance, possibly even a relation to Fitz-James O’Brien.