13 December 2016 - Rare Book Sale

#0294

Lot 433/10022

SOLD Hammer price €140

Cosgrave (E. McDowel) [1853-1925] An interesting ALS, 3 pp (two sheets), date-stamped March 1914, to Mr. [probably R.M.] Butler, discussing an under street tunnel apparently found under part of Harcourt Street in Dublin, which he describes as ‘interesting and puzzling’, discussing its possible purpose and mentioning other examples.Dr. Cosgrave, a medical doctor and antiquary, was founder of the Georgian Society; R.M. Butler was Professor of Architecture at UCD. (1)

Lot 434/10022

SOLD Hammer price €90

Gavan Duffy (Sir Charles) [1816-1903] A short ALS to a Mr. Keating, 1st August (no year), making arrangements for a meeting in London, 3 pp (single folded sheet), with a good signature.Charles Gavan Duffy, born in Monaghan, was founding editor of The Nation in 1842, with Davis and Blake Dillon. Seeing no prospect of political change, he emigrated to Australia in 1855, where he became Prime Minister of Victoria in 1871. He was a lawyer by profession. (1)

Lot 435/10022

SOLD Hammer price €400

‘We could vex Lord Doneraile in this Way’Croke (Archbishop Thomas W.) [1824-1902] A very good collection of three ALS to Michael [Murphy], evidently a church administrator at Doneraile, where Dr. Croke was formerly parish priest. All three letters on his headed notepaper from The Palace, Thurles, one dated 1876.The first letter, dated May 11, marked ‘Private’, states that Mr. Dudley [a teacher?] is leaving Doneraile, ‘having been very badly [treated?] by Lord Doneraile.’It occurs to me that we ought to give him an address and testimonial. First and foremost, he deserves it – and, secondly, we could vex Lord D. in this way ..’The second letter, a fortnight later, welcomes the news of a testimonial for Mr. Dudley (as though he himself had nothing to do with it), and promises a subscription of £5. Both with excellent signatures.The third letter, dated 1876, is on a matter concerning cattle.Also with this lot is a small notebook containing church accounts for Doneraile Parish, 1866-1870, signed by Michael Murphy, countersigned in various places by T.W. Croke [parish priest]; and with a cabinet photograph of Dr. Croke (stained).Dr. Croke, from Co. Cork, was educated at the Irish Colleges in Paris and Rome. According to William O’Brien, he was present at the barricades in Paris during the revolution of 1848. He was appointed to Doneraile in 1865, and attended the First Vatican Council in 1870 as theologian to the Bishop of Cloyne. He became Bishop of Auckland in New Zealand in 1870, and was appointed Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in 1875. He is best known for his strong support for the G.A.A. in its early years. (1)

Lot 436/10022

SOLD Hammer price €180

Letters of two Somerville Brothers and on their part in Battles of World War TwoWorld War Two: * Typed copy of a letter from Philip Somerville DSO DSC RN, commander of the destroyer HMS Kingston, detailing the part his ship played in the Battle of Crete in May 1941. (He was later killed, 4 April 1942, when his ship was bombed while undergoing repairs in Malta).* MS copy of an extract from a letter from Lt Commander Henry Nugent Somerville RNVR detailing the part his ship played in the D-Day landings, June 1944.They were nephews of Edith Somerville, as a m/ss, w.a.f. (2)Provenance: The Coghill Family.

Lot 437/10022

SOLD Hammer price €250

M/ss Ballad by Edith Somerville’s GrandmotherSomerville Family: The Grandmother’s Tale (an attempt at a border ballad), M/ss book written by Anna Maria Bushe, eldest daughter of Lord Chief Justice Charles Kendal Bushe, who in 1819 married Admiral Sir Josiah Coghill, and was grandmother of Edith Somerville, it was written at Kilmurry, Co. Kilkenny, the Bushe family home, ‘for my dear aunts Eliza Maria Crampton and Sarah Williamson.’ In a different hand is added the words: ‘Copied by Eliza Mary Crampton for Sarah.’ An original poem of 53 verses, preceded by a lengthy introduction. Sent to Edith Somerville by her cousin Sydney Franks, with an accompanying letter dated 5 Sept 1917, as a m/ss, w.a.f. (2)Provenance: The Coghill Family.

Lot 438/10022

SOLD Hammer price €750

An Album of Poems by the family of Violet Martin (“Martin Ross”) A Book in worn half-calf binding with label on front “Katharine Bushe” (the mother of Charles Kendal Bushe?). A gift to EOES (Edith Oenone Somerville) from VFM (Violet Florence Martin), 30 Dec 1897. 303 pp (some blank). 25 x 22 cm. Alphabetical table of contents at front listing 131 entries. Most of the entries are in MS in various hands, some are news cuttings, including poems published under the pseudonym “Ballyhooly”. Writers include Lord Chief Justice Charles Kendal Bushe (1767-1843); Anna Selina Martin née Fox (2nd wife, 1844, of James Martin of Ross and mother of Violet – she survived her husband by 34 years and died in 1906); R.J. Martin (Robert Jasper Martin of Ross, Violet’s brother, 1846-1905); Martin Ross (Violet Martin, 1862-1915), Selina Crampton (artist, d 1876, daughter of Sir Philip Crampton), Loftus Fox, and K. Fox.There is a contemporary copy of Jean Ingelow’s poem “When Sparrows Build”, one of the most popular songs of the late Victorian period.Some of the poems are political satires, e.g. “The Head Centre’s Lament”, a mock-Irish lament on the execution of Allen, Larkin and O’Brien in Manchester in 1867. The book is illustrated with watercolours, e.g., “Lines sent to P.C. Smyly [Sir Philip Crampton Smyly, 1838-1904, eminent surgeon] with a present of eggs”, by A.S. Martin. This is the anxious query of an egg to its mother as to whether it is to be boiled and eaten; the mother replies that this is so, but at least it will be eaten by Smyly. There are water colours of the hen family and of Smyly at his breakfast table, as a m/ss, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Coghill Family.

Lot 439/10022

The Coghill Yachting DiariesManuscripts etc: Two M/ss Logs of voyages by members of the Coghill family of Castle Townshend: one series undertaken by “Kendal Egerton and myself” (Sir Jocelyn Coghill?) in 1870, 1874, 1880 and 1894; the second written by Col. Kendal Coghill and narrating trips out of Castle Townshend in the yacht Ierne, 1894 – 1898; together with two entertaining published narratives of yachting excursions: The Cruise of the Mary (Foster & Co., Dublin), an account of a voyage to Iceland by “Smith, Brown, Jones and Robinson,” consisting of verses and drawings; and Smith’s Wanderings: Mediterranean (Thomas McLean, London 20 Aug. 1859), recounting a voyage to Corunna, Vigo, Lisbon, Cintra, Gibraltar, Malta, Corfu, Riekka and elsewhere, illustrated by sketches, as a collection. (4)

Lot 440/10022

SOLD Hammer price €620

Zulu WarsA Scrapbook of Obituaries of Members of the Coghill FamilyNews cuttings of the deaths of members of the Coghill family and their relations, ending in 1909. Several pages are devoted to the Battle of Isandlwana in the Zulu War of 1879, with narratives, maps and drawings. Lieutenant Nevill Coghill, who was killed in the aftermath of the battle while attempting to save the life of a brother officer, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. There is also much material on the Abergele rail disaster of 20 August 1868, in which the Euston-Holyhead train collided with some runaway wagons loaded with paraffin oil, which caught fire in the collision; all passengers in the first four carriages were burned to death. The fatalities included John Harrison Aylmer of Walworth Castle, Durham, his wife Rosanna Louisa (née Coghill), and their eldest son Arthur, aged 18. Pasted into the scrapbook is a telegram from Mrs Coghill’s brother-in-law Allen Windle to another brother-in-law Thomas Greene, stating: “Cannot say whether they are there, remains so charred unrecognisable save ladies box marked A. Lee”. On the following page are two poignant mementoes of the tragedy: the charred remnant of a watercolour by Rosalie Franks of the Aylmers’ youngest son Edmund (then aged 9), and a fragment of Mrs Aylmer’s dress, as a Scrap Album, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Coghill Family.

Lot 441/10022

SOLD Hammer price €220

Typescript of a 1752 Court Case Regarding Lands in KerryCo. Kerry: Typescript (22 pp) of a case to be heard by the Irish House of Lords on 4 March 1752 between Francis Thomas, Earl of Kerry and Lixnaw, a minor, and John Petty, Viscount FitzMaurice.Thomas (FitzMaurice), 1st Earl of Kerry and Lixnaw, married in 1692 Anne Petty, daughter of the celebrated Sir William Petty, economist, scientist, philosopher and land surveyor. They had two sons: William, who succeeded his father in 1742, and John, who in 1751 inherited the estates of his maternal grandfather, changed his name to Petty, and was created Viscount FitzMaurice (he became Earl of Shelburne in 1753). William, 2nd Earl of Kerry, died in 1747 and was succeeded by his son Francis Thomas, then a young child. The law-suit is thus between a nephew and an uncle, John (the uncle) claiming money and lands under settlements made by his father the 1st Earl. In 1750 the court upheld his claim, but the nephew (through his guardian) appealed the case to the House of Lords. In this document, John demands that the original judgement be upheld.John’s insistence was caused in part by the fact that under Earl Thomas’s management the Kerry estate had greatly increased in value, with the construction of a mansion, deer park, gardens, fruit and forest plantations, and encouragements to tenants to improve their lands (see p. 13).An important legal document illustrating the complexities of Irish land ownership, the feuding’s within a prominent family, and the development of a Kerry estate, in the first half of the 18th century, as a typescript. (1)

Lot 442/10022

SOLD Hammer price €320

Letters of a Future Kildare Bishop, c. 1880Kildare & Leighlin: [Foley (Rev. P.)] A file of 15 Letters written to or by the Rev. Patrick Foley of the diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, both before and after his ordination, mostly undated but some of 1880 and 1881.Patrick Foley was born in 1857 at Mensal Lodge, Old Leighlin, Co. Carlow. Educated at St Patrick’s College, Carlow, he was ordained in 1881 and appointed a professor at the college. He became vice-president in 1886 and president in 1892. In 1895, while still only 38, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, and in the following year became full bishop of the diocese. His long episcopate of nearly thirty years saw many changes in Ireland and he played a significant part in educational developments during the period. He died in 1926.The correspondents include his brother the Rev. John Foley, then curate of Balyna in Co. Kildare and who succeeded him as president of Carlow College in 1896, remaining in office until his death in 1937; the Rev. James B. Kavanagh, a former president of the college but now parish priest of Kildare (he was killed in 1886 when a statue fell on him while he was saying Mass); John Robinson of Ballyonan, Co. Kildare; and fellow students D. Cullen and John Delany of Maynooth and John C. Corbet of the Irish College in Rome.Topics include news of other students, exam results, ordinations etc.; two letters to John Robinson mention Land League activities; John Foley writes of the problems of attending invalids without a horse in his “scattered parish”. In one particularly interesting letter, D. Cullen extols student life in Maynooth, to which he had progressed from Carlow College: “I would not go back to Carlow, were I to get a free place, a fire in my room, and nothing to do …”, as a collection. (1)

Lot 443/10022

SOLD Hammer price €1400

Conolly of Castletown Letters11 Letters Relating to Patrick & William Conolly,Brother and Nephew of “Speaker” Conolly, 1713 – 1714 & 1720 – 1721Conolly (Patrick & William) A rare collection of eleven original Letters relating to the Conolly family, c. 1713-1714 and 1720-1721, approx. 14pp in all, postally used, some with markings. As m/ss, w.a.f. (1)* Patrick Conolly was the younger brother of William Conolly of Castletown, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. The family’s origins are obscure: their father, Patrick Conolly of Ballyshannon, co Donegal, was formerly said to have been either an innkeeper or a blacksmith, but is now thought to have been either a miller (ODNB) or a minor landowner (DIB). The brothers fled to England in 1688 following the Jacobite takeover, but whereas William returned to Ireland and eventually achieved wealth and fame, Patrick remained in England, where he married Frances Hewett, the daughter of a Leicestershire squire, and lived at Dunton (between Leicester and Lutterworth).In the first letter, Patrick tells his brother of the death of his wife. In the ensuing letters, the Rev Thomas Seagrave, rector of Leir near Lutterworth, recounts Patrick’s own death and his attempts over the next year to settle his estate and arrange for the care of his two teenage children, William and Frances, despite the unhelpful attitude of the Hewetts.In three letters dated 1720-21, William thanks his uncle for the kindness he has shown; the final item is a list of expenses incurred by the Speaker in setting up his nephew as a cursitor in the Court of Chancery.William succeeded to Castletown on the death of his aunt, the Speaker’s widow, in 1752, but died only two years later. His brief tenure has been overshadowed by the more spectacular careers of his uncle the Speaker and his son, “Squire” Thomas Conolly. These letters – always informative and at times poignant or amusing – cast new light on the lives of two little-known members of one of Ireland’s most famous 18th-century families. As manuscripts, w.a.f.

Lot 443A/10022

SOLD Hammer price €100

The Abdication of Edward VIII, 1936Printed Act: Print text headed “A Bill to give effect to His Majesty’s abdication, brought before the Commons 11 December 1936.” Edward VIII abdicated the throne owing to his refusal to renounce his intention of marrying Wallis Simpson, an American socialite divorcee deemed unsuitable as a royal consort by the British establishment. The event had its impact on Ireland, where de Valera, encouraged by the perceived weakness of Britain, moved swiftly to introduce laws that would reduce the influence of the Crown in Irish affairs. Rare. (1)

Lot 444/10022

SOLD Hammer price €180

Co. Wexford, Maritime, 1805: “Regulations for Pilots,” a printed poster, for regulating Pilot Boats and Pilots approved by Commissioners for Improvement of the Town and Harbour of Wexford, 1805, signed by Thomas Richards, Secretary, approx. 31cms x 18cms (12″ x 7″) in hogarth frame. (1)* A very interesting & scarce document.

Lot 445/10022

SOLD Hammer price €90

Poster: Drumconra, Co. Meath: Markets and Fairs … at the Town of Drumconra in the County of Meath …, A printed Poster, approx. 25.5cms x 16cms (10″ x 6 1/4″) ptd. one side only 15th May 1821, no printer. As ephemera, w.a.f. (1)

Lot 446/10022

SOLD Hammer price €90

Co. Wexford: An early 19th Century Poster, “Timber for Sale …. at SF Mullin,” New Ross 1842, printed by Godwin’s (Seed Shop), N. Ross, hogarth frame. (1)

Lot 447/10022

SOLD Hammer price €1050

The Ancestral Kilkenny Home of George Berkerly, PhilosopherCooper (Austin) 18th Century Irish Antiquary. Castle of Disart, Co. Kilkenny, a tondo drawing, c. 12.75cms (5″), signed with initials, and dated 29th Oct. 1799, unframed. Together with an original 19th Century Photograph of same. (2)* The present drawing is not recorded in the book edited by Liam Price, M.R.I.A., An eighteenth Century Antiquary. The Sketches, Notes and Diaries of Austin Cooper (1759 – 1830), publishing Dublin 1942.

Lot 448/10022

SOLD Hammer price €750

Colonel Charles Vallancey, c. 1766 – 68Watercolour: Co. Carlow – Tumulus at St. Mullins, and Ruins of St. Michael’s Church near Tinnahinch, two circular watercolours each approx. 5 3/4″ tondo, framed as one, in gilt frame. (2)

Lot 449/10022

SOLD Hammer price €1100

Colonel Charles Vallancey, c. 1788Watercolour: Kells, Co. Kilkenny, an oval watercolour, 7″ x 9 1/4″, signed and inscribed in gilt frame. (1)

Lot 450/10022

SOLD Hammer price €300

Engraving: A Prospect of Dublin, The Capital of Ireland, engd. by Cary, published by Alex Hogg, London, c. 1790, attractive hd. cold. view, approx. 24cms x 32cms (9 1/2″ x 12 1/2″) gilt frame. (1)

Lot 451/10022

SOLD Hammer price €180

1798: Co. Wexford: A Map of Part of the Country round Ross with A Map of New Ross, c. 1798, hd. cold. map, approx. 21cms x 41cms (8 1/4″ x 16″), hogarth frame. (1)