Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers Rare Books & Collectors' Sale December 9th & 10th, 2020

165 fonsiemealy.ie fm All contents and images are subject to copyright 911 O’Faolain (Sean) The original working typescript of his collection of early Irish poetry in English translation, The Silver Branch (published by Cape 1938). Two thick volumes typescript, stapled, 488 pp including index, heavily worked over with sections removed and/or added, titles added in O’Faolain’s manuscript, extensively corrected especially in introduction. A very interesting item, showing O’Faolain’s painstaking editorial work in great detail. (1) € 300 - 500 912 Gri ffi ths (George) Four cyclostyled collections of poetry, titled ‘The Note and Other Poems’, ‘ Further Poems’, ‘Further Poems 2’ and ‘Further Poems 3’, mostly 1972- 3, plastic bound, each signed on upper cover, with some corrections. (4) € 50 - 60 913 Kennedy (Richard) A Parcel of Time, A First WorldWar Childhood. Illustrated by the Author. Whittington Press 1977, First Edn. Orig. cloth (protected), d.w. (stained). Nonie Franks’ copy, with three original Richard Kennedy family Christmas cards and other items laid in. (1) € 50 - 80 Five Boxes containing papers of theWaterford Publisher, Novelist, Newspaper Editor and Historian Edmund Downey - Manuscript Drafts, Proofs and Reviews of Novels, Correspondence, and other Miscellanea. Edmund Downey (1856-1937), The son of a Waterford ship broker, emigrated to London in 1878, where he worked for and then edited Tinsley’s Magazine , co-founded the fi rm of Ward & Downey in 1890, and in 1894 founded his own fi rm, Downey & Co. He wrote and published Irish- fl avoured novels, some co-authored by his wife and published by him under her name, F.M. Allen. He also published the works of other Irish writers and helped to publicise the Irish novel, both in Britain and Ireland. In 1906 he returned to Waterford, where he bought the Waterford News . In 1914 he wrote and published a history of Waterford city, important as being the fi rst to use the unpublished 18 th -century Corporation records. He also produced a series of still-useful guides to Waterford city and county. After 1916 he became an ardent supporter of Sinn Féin, and was for a time “on the run” because of his opposition to the Treaty. His wife died in 1918 and in 1928 he married again. He was the father of six children. Principal contents of the Archive: · A large fi le of correspondence with Downey’s cousin, the author Richard Dowling (1846-1898), much of whose work was published by Downey (box 4) · Galleys and some Manuscript of works by Dowling (box 4) · Working papers for Downey’s article on the Merry family of Waterford (box 1), published in the Journal of the Waterford & SE Ireland Arch. Soc, Jan. 1913; including letters from Godfrey Merry, London, and from John de Courcy Mac Donnell of the Union Celtique, Brussels; typescript copy of a note by Mac Donnell on the Merry and Power families read to the Union Celtique in 1911; and typescript copy of decision in Rolls Court in re Merry v Power. · Manuscript of all or part of several novels, including Mount Misery , Clay Cottage, Three Fingers · Reviews of Clashmore and The Merchant of Killogue by “F.M. Allen” · Photostat copies of documents setting up the fi rm of Downey & Co. (box 4) · Pamphlet by “A Liverpool Priest” criticising Luke Delmage (sic) and other novels by Canon Sheehan (box 5) · Here and There: Memories by “H.R.N.” (pseudonym of John Joseph Dunne), London, J. Fisher Unwin, 1896. Legal, political and social life in Ireland, with anecdotes of friends and politicians. Original cover, disbound, with many corrections for proposed new edition published by Downey & Co., with some portrait sketches not used in fi rst edition (box 4) · “Continental Gossiping” by Charles Lever, edited by Downey (box 2) · Scrapbook: “Stories of London Night” by Dowling: news cuttings with corrections (box 5) · 1 letter each from Alfred P. Graves (1914) requesting to use Downey’s story “Father Crotty’s Hat” in his Humours of Irish Life and from Tim Healy (1916) thanking him for a pamphlet (box 4) · Typescripts of “Sir Bootlegger” by Nathaniel Byrne (Ontario) and a short story “Proud Humility” (box 2) · Draft manifesto (1 page) to the citizens of Waterford; typescript (3 pp) on Cathal Brugha (box 4) · Pamphlet “An Irish Murder, or, Is it a system?” by M.A. Manning, Hon Sec Waterford City branch, Irish National League (box 5) · A packet of limericks (box 1), many with a Waterford fl avour, e.g.: “A butler of Carrickavrantry / was overly fond of ‘decantry’. He spent every day / with his head in a tray / of a corner discreet of his pantry”. · Various other humorous items, stories, pamphlets etc. · News cuttings of obituaries of Downey (box 5). * An extensive and important Archive. € 2,000 - 3,000 910 Archive of Edmund Downey