30 May 2017 - RARE BOOKS, LITERATURE & SPORTING COLLECTIBLES

#0297

Lot 426/0297

SOLD Hammer price €500

Rare First Production Irish Literary Theatre 1899. ‘The Countess Cathleen’ by W.B. Yeats, and ‘The Heather Field’ by Edward Martyn, will be performed for the first time in The Antient Concert Rooms [May 8-13] .. by a Specially selected Company of Professional Artistes under the general Management of Miss Florence Farr. Corrigan & Wilson, Printers, Upr. Sackville St. Brochure, 4 pp (single folded sheet), on good quality laid paper, with a note on the Irish Literary Theatre and a list of Artistes engaged. Very scarce, The Theatre’s first production.

Lot 427/0297

SOLD Hammer price €300

Yeats (W.B.). ‘Countess Cathleen’. Programme for a drawing-room performance at the Chief Secretary’s Lodge, Phoenix Park, Dublin, January 1899. 4 pp, single folded sheet, Dublin printed, with a note about the play, dramatis personae (with the Countess of Fingall as Countess Cathleen) and a list of tableaux. The first performance of scenes from the play, four months before the first full stage performance (see previous item). Cover a little browned, traces of mounting to rear, otherwise v. good. “The Light of Lights Looks always on the motive, not the deed; The shadow of shadows on the deed alone.” * Exceptionally Rare.

Lot 428/0297

SOLD Hammer price €220

Irish Plays [1906]. Brochure for a Season of Irish Plays by W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge, Wm. Boyle and Lady Gregory, at the Theatre Royal, Cardiff, Summer 1906, Presented by the National Theatre Society from the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Toured under the Direction of Alfred Waring. Attractive brochure, with photographs of scenes from the plays, Lady Gregory, etc., a little spotting. Scarce. (1)

Lot 429/0297

SOLD Hammer price €275

Abbey Theatre. Programme. Irish National Theatre Society. Quarto brown wrappers with hound design. Tuesday 27 December 1904 and subsequent dates, the programme for the Society’s First season at the Abbey Theatre following its purchase and presentation by Miss Horniman. The plays included the ‘first performance on any stage’ of W.B. Yeats’ On Baile’s Strand and Lady Gregory’s Spreading the News. A historic programme, marking a milestone in Irish cultural history. Fine copy, rare. (1)

Lot 430/0297

SOLD Hammer price €200

Synge’s First Play on Abbey Stage Abbey Theatre. Programme. Irish National Theatre Society. Quarto brown wrappers with hound design. 6-11 February 1905, production ‘for the first time on any stage’ of The Well of the Saints by J.M. Synge. This was only the second production at the Abbey Theatre. A little scuffed, good copy. (1)

Lot 431/0297

SOLD Hammer price €400

First Production of “The Playboy…” [The Abbey Theatre]. Programme. Saturday 26th January 1907, for seven nights, including first production of The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge, with notes on the language and the characters by Synge. Probably the most celebrated and controversial production in the entire history of Irish theatre. A very fine copy. Extremely Scarce. (1)

Lot 432/0297

SOLD Hammer price €250

The Abbey Row. NOT Edited by W.B. Yeats. Blue wraps, with an adaptation of the Abbey’s famous hound, incorporating the heads of Miss Horniman and J.M. Synge. With drawings (unsigned) by William Orpen. An entertaining account of the row over Synge’s ‘Playboy’. Very good copy, scarce. (1)

Lot 433/0297

SOLD Hammer price €80

Abbey Theatre. Two programmes for plays including Lady Gregory’s Hyacinth Halvey and a translation from Moliere; and a first production by George Fitzmaurice, 1913. Both somewhat worn. (2)

Lot 434/0297

SOLD Hammer price €400

Signed by Sean O’Casey & Others Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Twenty-First Birthday Anniversary Performance, 27th December 1925. Quarto, orig. brown wrappers with device of boy and hound. With a list of plays produced at the Abbey, etc. Inscribed inside rear cover by a galaxy of Abbey personalities including the playwright Sean O’Casey (soon afterwards he fell out with the Abbey), and actors including Maureen Delaney, May Craig, Eileen Crowe, Shelah Richards, Arthur Shields and F.J. McCormick. Fine copy, a splendid souvenir. (1)

Lot 435/0297

SOLD Hammer price €200

The Irish Theatre, Hardwicke St. Directors Edward Martyn, Thomas MacDonagh, Joseph Plunkett. Manager – John MacDonagh. Play-bill for week Monday December 27 1915 to Saturday January 1 1916, 2 pp (verso blank). Bairbre Ruadh. Dr ma in-Ghn¡omh, Padraic à Conaire do sgr¡obh; The Phoenix on the Roof, a Comedy in one Act by Eimar à’Duffy; and two short plays by John MacDonagh and Anton Tchekoff. Players include William Pearse, brother of Patrick, and M ire Nic Shiubhlaigh in à Conaire’s play. John MacDonagh was a brother of Thomas MacDonagh. Very Scarce. (1)

Lot 436/0297

SOLD Hammer price €150

Original Manuscript Poem Higgins (F.R.) O Hawks Claw-Clinched. Original manuscript poem of six four-line stanzas (2 pp, on plain paper), neatly written, Signed, Inscribed to [the theatre producer] Phyllis Ryan, possibly unpublished. ‘Ah, what of the spleens that grieve us, Heart-breaks in our bitter town, Our green air grows herbage for healing Beneath the cool cheek of the moon ..’ As a m/ss., w.a.f. Rare. (1)

Lot 437/0297

SOLD Hammer price €150

Greacen (Robert) & McFadden (Roy) (edrs). Ulster Voices, Spring & Summer 1943 (Nos. 1 & 2), each a single sheet folded to make 6 narrow pages. Contribs. include the editors, John Hewitt, John Boyd etc. Very scarce. (1)

Lot 438/0297

SOLD Hammer price €200

French (W. Percy) The First Lord Liftinant and other Tales. 1890, Rushlight Series No.1, 16mo wrappers, with sketches by R. Caulfield Orpen. Humorous tales. Very scarce. (1)

Lot 439/0297

SOLD Hammer price €300

Yeats (W.B.) A manuscript letter to ‘My dear Hyde’, from Nassau Hotel, 8 April ’04, 2 pp, concerning theatre patents, Miss Horniman, Lady Gregory etc., an important letter, NOT in Yeats’ hand, signed with his name, the signature in Yeats’ hand. (1) According to Yeats, Collected Letters Vol. III (1901-4), this letter was dictated to Miss Horniman and is in her hand, apart from Yeats’ signature. The text concerns the patent for their new theatre, soon to be renamed as the Abbey. ‘If the other theatres got wind of it they would spend any amount of money to thwart us’. As a m/ss, w.a.f.

Lot 440/0297

SOLD Hammer price €200

Yeats (Jack B) A short ALs. on his headed Paper, Fitzwilliam Square, dated July 7 1949, 1 pp, to a Miss Thomas. ‘Yes, I saw Jean Gaillard two or three times before he went away to the West: he is a very interesting, and intelligent, man, and I am sure he was capable of these mental pictures his friend describes ..’, also mentioning Hilda Graham, who ‘had a very little time when she came over here’. With a good signature, ‘Jack B. Yeats’. As a m/ss., w.a.f. (1) Jack Yeats was an assiduous correspondent, particularly to patrons or potential patrons. There are several possibilities for the identity of Jean Gaillard, one of them a First World War flying ace.

Lot 441/0297

SOLD Hammer price €350

Yeats (John Butler) Typed copies of 18 letters to his close friend Rosa Butt, various dates 1902 – 1907. With a m/ss letter from ‘Gifford’ (Lewis?) mentioning the letters – ‘I think they may be important.’ After the death of his wife, John Butler Yeats formed a close friendship with Rosa Butt (daughter of his old friend Isaac Butt), and seems to have considered marrying her, but it came to nothing in the end. The letters include a reference to a possible engagement, also various paintings in progress, dinner with George Moore, Lady Gregory, John Quinn, Miss Swanzy etc., etc., with a great deal of gossip and family information. Two letters with insect damage, but generally v.g. Although copies, the letters are unpublished, and are of enormous interest for anyone concerned with the Yeats family. As a lot, w.a.f. (1)

Lot 442/0297

SOLD Hammer price €150

Cuala Press: Calendar for 1912, with hand coloured woodcut racing scene by Jack B. Yeats, printed one side only, on board, approx. 9 3/4″ x 7″. Good. V. Scarce. (1)

Lot 443/0297

SOLD Hammer price €2000

The Yeats Broadsheets Yeats (Jack B.) & Pamela Colman Smith A Broadsheet. Nos 1 -12, First Year complete, Jan. – Dec. 1902. Folio broadsheets, each 20″ x 15″ (51cms x 38cms), the drawings hand coloured by the artists, published and sold by Elkin Mathews, Vigo St., London. Edited by Jack Yeats, who also contributed about half the illustrations, including ‘The Pooka!’ ‘The Back Strand Races, Sligo,’ Shows at the Fair,’ ‘The Gipsy,’ ‘A Sligo Ballad Singer,’ etc. This is the first appearance of the drawings of West of Ireland life which later became a familiar part of Jack Yeats’ work, usually under the title ‘Life in the West of Ireland’. Pamela Colman Smith was an Australian artist; some of her work here is remarkably similar to that of Yeats, and evidently she was influenced by him. She contributed to the first year only; the ‘Broadsheets’ continued for a second year, when Jack Yeats was joined by other members of his family. The literary contents of the ‘Broadsheet’ include poems by W.B. Yeats, ‘A.E.’, Jack Yeats himself, and others, some pseudonymous. No limitation is recorded, but it is unlikely that more than a few hundred copies of each Broadsheet were produced and coloured. Because of its large size, very few have survived in good condition, and sets are far scarcer than the later ‘A Broadside’ (a folded sheet less than half the size). Extremely Rare. The present set is slightly foxed in places, and most sheets are frayed at the lower corners without any loss of text or pictures. The colouring is fresh and the condition is generally very good.

Lot 444/0297

SOLD Hammer price €220

The Author’s Fifth Book Yeats (Jack B.) The Bosun and the Bob = Tailed Comet, One of Jack B. Yeats’ Books for Children. 12mo L. (Elkin Mathews) n.d. [1904]. First Edn., illus. by author, and illus. adverts, orig. blue wrappers, block in black and with hd. cold. illus. V. good. (1)

Lot 445/0297

SOLD Hammer price €150

P.S. O’Hegarty’s Copy [Yeats (Jack B.)] Marriott (Ernest) Jack B. Yeats Being A True Impartial View of his Pictorial & Dramatic Art, 12mo L. (Elkin Mathews) 1911. First Edn., frontis, fold. map, & illus. adverts, orig. decor. blue boards. Inscribed on front board by P.S. O’Hegarty. Good. (1)