Superb Association CopyConnolly (James) "Labour in Irish His...

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€1,250 - €1,750

Superb Association Copy

Connolly (James) "Labour in Irish History" 8vo D. (Maunsel) 1910 First Edn., inscribed on f.e.p. 'To / Miss Winifred Carney / from the author / James Connolly', with the date 1914 added. Spine a little worn and discoloured, f.e.p. lightly foxed, otherwise a very good copy. (1)

* Winifred Carney, from Bangor, Co. Down, became secretary to the Irish Textile Workers Union in Belfast in 1912. The following year she met Connolly while raising funds for the workers locked out in Dublin. She became his personal secretary, and was thereafter (apart from his wife) his closest and most trusted comrade. A telegram from Connolly summoned her to Dublin on 14 April 1916, and she served with him in the GPO throughout the Rising. She was one of only three women there when the GPO was evacuated.

After the Rising she was arrested and held in various jails until Christmas 1916. She continued with her Labour and Socialist activities, and later was an active member of the Northern Ireland Labour Party. She died in 1943. 'Labour in Irish History' is itself a remarkable book. By a writer who left school at 11, with no academic background whatever, it is the first substantial work on the subject, still worth reading today. The first edition is very scarce in good condition, and presentation copies are extremely rare.

* James Connolly signed the 1916 Proclamation, commanded the Irish Citizen Army in the GPO, was seriously wounded by a sniper, and was executed tied to a chair on 12 May 1916.

A Superb Association copy.