1. [Nares, James] Cox, Beatrice (editor)

Exploring the Arts. [James Nares’ personal copy – received as “Robb Art Prize – Senior Section – Lent, 1965”].

London, Longacre Press, 1961. 21 cm x 26.5 cm. 191 pages with numerous monochrome illustrations throughout. Hardcover [publisher’s original maroon cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some foxing to endpapers and hint of browning to leaf edges but interior otherwise bright and clean. Front endpapers carry inked inscription ‘Robb Art Prize Senior Section, James Nares, Lent 1965.’

2. [Schopenhauer, Arthur] Magee, Bryan.

The Philosophy of Schopenhauer.

Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1991. 15,5 x 25 cm. 404 pages. Original Softcover. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. From the library of philosopher Graham Parkes. With his name on the half title.

3. Meister, Ernst.

Ausstellung – Gedichte von Ernst Meister [Originalausgabe / wahrscheinlich das originale Korrekturexemplar des Autors oder Verlags].

Erste Ausgabe. Marburg, Verlag Marburger Flugblätter, 1932. Oktav. 64 Seiten. Original Softcover (cremefarbene Englisch-Broschur mit roter Betitelung). Der Buchblock minimal von der Broschur gelöst. Sonst in sehr gutem Zustand, mit Merkmalen eines Korrekturexemplars: Der obere Schnitt etwas uneben, einige Seiten mit handschriftlicher, zusätzlicher Numerierung (und auch Anmerkung) die eine andere Paginierungsfolge oder Reihenfolge der Gedichte suggeriert. Einige Textstellen mit handschriftlicher Änderung einzelner Buchstaben. Kurze Widmung auf dem Vorsatzblatt: “f. Ulla” (nicht verifizierbar ob von Meister). Das Gedicht “Der Gebückte” mit einer handschriftlichen Anmerkung die eine eventuelle, dreimalige Wiederholung des ersten Teiles (‘Er geht’) mit zwei Fragezeichen erwägt. Sehr seltene, erste Veröffentlichung von Ernst Meister. Der Fund dieser Ausgabe ist eine kleine Sensation da Ernst Meister die Auflage persönlich vernichtete nachdem der Verlag Ihm die Bücher zurückgesendet hatte. Seine Ehefrau Else Meister rettete, laut einigen Quellen, nur einige wenige Exemplare aus der Mülltonne. / Als Zugabe zu der Ausgabe liegt dem Band eine Sammlung von sehr seltenen “Mitteilung[en] für Freunde” bei. Ernst Meister hat diese “Im Handsatz als Manuskript gedruckt”. Beiliegen No.2 – 6 der Mitteilungen”. Diese sind signiert mit dem Namenszug “Ernst Meister” versehen und der Jahreszahl der Herausgabe auf der Titelbroschur.

4. Le Brocquy, Louis.

Personal copies of an early set of 18 photographs [contacts] of works by Louis le Brocquy, mostly titled and annotated / explained by Louis le Brocquy himself verso. Some of the photographs refer to very early works of Louis le Brocquy. Some have no entries by le Brocquy verso, some have quite extensive manuscript-information in Louis le Brocquy’s hand like “Sold to:…..” etc. etc. / Also included is an original, very early exhibition catalogue (Louis le Brocquy’s personal copy of the catalogue) for an exhibition in Mayfair/″Gimpel Fils” – November 1959. The catalogue has several annotations and underlinings in Louis le Brocquy’s hand and included are most of the original photographs of works le Brocquy selected for the printing of the catalogue.

Loandon / Mayfair, Gimpel Fils, 1959. Octavo. 12 pages plus four photographs directly related to the exhibition catalogue / 18 photographs of earlier works. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. A stunning, really original set of interesting ephemera from the artist’s personal collection, given to his friend John Montague. Provenance: From the private collection of John Montague’s papers in his recently sold West Cork Home.

5. [John Montague Collection] – [Montague, John] Dorgan, Theo.

Typescript Draft MS for a book of poetry by Theo Dorgan. With occasional manuscript corrections / suggestions / annotations by Dorgan’s early mentor John Montague, the Typescript MS was held among the private papers of John Montague in his West Cork Home. The typescript includes poems like “Closed Circuit”, “The Promised Garden”. Montague is approving several of the poems by simply applying a tick. John Montague made suggestions in pencil on the structure of “Elegy for a Schoolfriend” and more in depth-suggestions on “Nasty Archer”, “Her Body”,″The Width of a Room Between Us”, “Return”, “Reconciliation”, “Sunday Afternoon”. When asked about helping to date this early draft of his poetry, Theo Dorgan immediately gets back to us and he places it from memory into the early 1980’s. Theo Dorgan was surprised and seemingly chuffed that John Montague held on to this Manuscript and he recalls: “These poems, some in revised versions, make up the backbone of my first published collection, ‘The Ordinary House of Love’.” Dorgan continues: “I’m happy to say that most of them survived Montague’s eagle eye, which was of course a great comfort to me at the time. Still is!” Some of these poems selected had previously been published as broadsheets etc. but the skeleton of the Draft hints already at readying it for publication. Theo Dorgan graciously gives us even more information: “Some of the poems in the eventual book go back to when I was a student, others were definitely written in the second half of the 80s. The bulk of it, however, is in this MS. I base my estimation in part on the fact that what you have is a typescript produced, it appears, on the IBM golfball machine that was the pride and joy of Triskel Arts Centre. That machine was bought in 1980 or 1981, I’m fairly sure of that. I was Literature Officer there, then.” Theo Dorgan was part of John Montague’s circle of mentored poets, even though in an email-exchange with him about this typescript he mentions that “John Montague worked far more with Thomas McCarthy, Maurice Riordan and Gregory O’Donoghue than he did with me, and in many ways Gregory O’Donoghue was at that stage the most accomplished of us all – the only one included in JM’s Faber Book.” What followed then in our conversation with Theo Dorgan is a great example why manuscripts, letters, autographs, typescripts and the connections we often make with documents from the past have such meaning in explaining our emotional ties with people who matter to us on our way of forming personality. They are memories transforming into images, floods of empathy and nostalgia for personal moments lost but treasured because they helped us form our values. Presented with the old typescript, Theo Dorgan’s emotionality is tangible and he confesses more in an internal dialogue with himself and John Montague than with us: “I’m sorry to say that the reason John Montague worked with those others more than he did with me is because, in my shameful, youthful arrogance, I much preferred to trust my own judgement, and also, I suspect, because I was closest to John in temperament and feared coming unduly under his influence. That said, there was no-one whose good opinion of a poem I valued more, and we were close all our lives after. Very likely it was a case of old stag/young stag ! Montague taught us by indirection, he made his extensive library of modern and contemporary poetry available to us without stint, would wait for us to find an affinity (as, e.g. mine with Robert Graves and Galway Kinnell) and would then, in a long, ongoing conversation, help us to understand what it might mean for our own poems that we felt such affinities. A guided companionship in reading and making, if you will.”

Ireland, c.1981-1982. A4. 43 pages typescripts. Paperclipped. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some fingerstaining and residue of rust from the paperclip. Wonderful and extremely valuable document of not only a collaboration between two of Ireland’s landmark writers but moreover witness to the becoming, the birth of a true poet. Also included (from a different source) is a second printing of the first edition of the subsequent publication “The Ordinary House of Love” – signed by Theo Dorgan. Right at the beginning of the printed version, instead of a dedication to John Montague, Theo Dorgan placed a quote from Montague’s poem “Wine Dark Sea”: ‘For there is no sea / it is all a dream there is no sea / except in the tangle / of our minds; / the wine dark / sea of history on which we all turn / turn and thresh / and disappear.’ (Collected Poems, page 255). Provenance of the annotated typescript: From the private collection of John Montague’s papers in his recently sold West Cork Home.

6. Yeats, William Butler / [George [Georgie] Yeats / Mrs. Eva Hempel / Eduard Hempel].

Pages from a Diary Written in Nineteen Hundred and Thirty. [Signed / Inscribed by George Yeats to Mrs. [Eva] Hempel, wife of german ambassador to Ireland during World War II].

No.8 / 200 copies, of the original limited edition. Dublin, The Cuala Press, 1944 [September 1944]. Octavo. 58 pages. Original Hardcover. Inscribed by George Yeats on the front free endpaper: “Mrs. Hempel from George Yeats, April 1944”. This has to be of course “April 1945”. The impossibility of signing/inscribing a book in April 1944 if it was only published in September 1944 is easily explained with the classic everyday-mistake of still writing the previous year in the first few months of the following year. A stunning association. The signature and inscription is a solid match to George Yeats’ autographs in her later hand and William Butler Yeats and George Yeats were frequent visitors to the Hempel’s in Dublin. In addition, the low number of the edition (8/200) suggests this being one of the reference copies given to George Yeats, who contributed heavily to the volume and even added an explanatory note (in print) verso the titlepage. This copy is near fine, bound in the publisher’s quarter buckram over yellow, paper-covered boards. The books pages remained unopened. Eva Hempel’s husband Eduard Hempel is one of the most controversial figures in modern Irish history, excoriated by some as ‘Hitler’s man’, defended by others such as the country’s first President, Eamon De Valera. Certainly, Hempel presented William Butler Yeats in 1938 with a copy of ‘Germany Speaks’ whose inscription described an ‘unforgettable afternoon’ spent together by Yeats and Hempel. Eduard Hempel and his wife were accepted socialites in the Dublin world of World War II, famously receiving a condolence call by de Valera upon the death of Hitler. Eduard Hempel and his wife Eva were granted asylum in Ireland after world war II and stayed way beyond the end of World War II.

7. Cordus, Euricius / Brasavola, Antonio Musa / [Hieronymus Schreiber / Jerôme Schreiber]

Botanologicon (Euricii Cordi Simesusii Medici Botanologicon) – Angebunden / Bound with: Antonio Musa Brasavola – Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum, quorum in officinis usus est. Addita sunt Insuper Aristotelis problemata, quae ad stirpium genus, & oleracea pertinent.

Cologne (Köln) / Leyden (Lyon), Johann Gymnicus (Gymnich) / Johannes and Franciscus Frellon, 1534 / 1537. Octavo. Collation complete: I. Euricius Cordus – Botanologicon: Title with the woodcut device of Cologne-printer Johann Gymnicus, including his Motto, the first line of a Verse from the Aeneid by Virgil ‘Discite Iustitiam Moniti’, 183, [21] pp., 2 blank leaves. The titlepage of the Botanologicon bears the manuscript ownership-entry of Nuremberg’s Astronomer, Philosopher and Mathematician Hieronymus Schreiber [also called Jerôme Schreiber], student-friend of Euricius Cordus’ son Valerius Cordus in Wittenberg and later trustee of Valerius Cordus’ scholarly estate after Valerius Cordus’ premature death in Rome. Dated in the same hand on the titlepage also the entry ‘Anno 1539’, when Valerius Cordus matriculated at Wittenberg and Schreiber already had studied there since May 1532. With several contemporary manuscript annotations throughout both titles (the Botanologicon and Examen) / II. A. M. Brasavola – Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum: Title, [1], [‘Reverendissimo to Ioannes Argenterius’, 4 pp.], [‘Ad Illustris & Sereniss. (‘Epistola Nuncupatoria’) to the Duces of Ferrara’ 17 pp.], [Epigramma, 1 p.], [Examen & Aristotelis Problemata 542 pages, [Dedication to Franciscus Frellaeus, 2 pp.], [Index copiosissimus in Examen Omnium, 13 pp.], [1]. With several manuscript annotations. Original, contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards with some stronger signs of running to the corners, with partially bevelled edges and both of the original metal clasps intact. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Title in ink to upper spine and also to top of fore-edge. Very few pressed plants loosely inserted. Interior in excellent condition with some minor staining to very few pages only.

8. Krueger, Paul / Mommsen, Theodor / [Aus der Bibliothek: Graf Erwin Ferdinand Karl Rochus von Schönborn-Buchheim].

Corpus Iuris Civilis, Editio Stereotypa Sexta, Volumen Primum. Institutiones recognovit Paulus Krueger / Digesta recognovit Theodorus Mommsen.

Volumen Primum. Berlin, Weidmann, MDCCCCXIII (1893). 19.5 cm x 27.5 cm. XVI, XXXII, 882 pages. Original Hardcover. Half-binding in leather, marbled front cover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Slight foxing of front free endpaper, front index pages, front page and back free endpaper and back index pages. From the library of Graf Erwin Ferdinand Karl Rochus von Schönborn-Buchheim.

9. [Jefferson, John Garland / Thomas Jefferson Circle] Botta, Charles.

History of the Independence of the United States of America. [Association copy with provenance – riddle: From the library of one John Garland Jefferson, being either the brother of American Civil War Hero Thomas Garland Jefferson and received as a gift from his namesake father, John Garland Jefferson (as stated on the endpaper in contemporary ink), with his name signed in ink to the fontispiece of Volume One or alternatively, being John Garland Jefferson (born 1815 – date of death unknown), the son of Captain Samuel Allen Jefferson (1776-1843)]. Translated from the Italian by George Alexander Otis. With ten illustrations and six maps.

Ninth Edition, In Two Volumes, Revised and Corrected. New-Haven, T.Brainard, 1839. Octavo. Volume I: Frontispiece, 473 pages with four maps and four illustrations (including frontispice) / Volume II: Frontispice, IV, 468 pages with six illustrations (including frontispice) and two maps. Hardcover / Original full eather with gilt lettering and ornament on spine and boards. Bindings a little rubbed. Lower spines stronger rubbed and only very slightly damaged but the Volumes and bookblocks overall very firm and in very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some plates and pages with foxing (as usual with this edition). Both tissue-guards for the frontispieces in place. A stunning set regarding the American War of Independence with an interesting provenance.

10. [Fly Fishing / Angling – Collection] – Brabazon, Wallop [Rath House, Drogheda] / Cooper, William / [Provenance: William Le Fanu]

The Deep Sea and Coast Fisheries of Ireland, with suggestions for the working of a Fishing Company. Illustrated by William Cooper. Dedicated by Permission to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland. [With 21 Plates]

Original First Edition. Dublin / London / Derby, James McGlashan / Simpkin, Marshall & Co. / Richardson and Sons, 1848. Octavo. Folded Frontispiece, X, 111 pages with 21 plates (original Lithographs often large folding). Hardcover / Original publisher’s cloth, embossed with gilt lettering to cover. Excellent condition of one of the rarest books on the History of irish commercial fishing and suggestions for professionalizing irish fishing industry in the 19th century. This book comes from the library of irish engineer William Le Fanu, with his bookplate to the pastedown and a stamp “Board of Public Works” to the dedication-page. The books interior with all the lithographic illustrations in very good condition. Occasional foxing only. Extremely rare; very scarce publication ! This is a superior example of this book; with all illustrations in place and in excellent condition.