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

185 fonsiemealy.ie fm All contents and images are subject to copyright Pearse, P.H. Sgoil Eanna Limited The original Prospectus and Memorandum of Association, dated 1912, setting out the school’s objects and its capital structure, with the names, addresses and descriptions of seven subscribers - Alec Wilson of Belfast, J.P., Co. Down; Joseph T. Dolan, merchant of Ardee; Patrick H. Pearse, St. Enda’s College, Rathfarnham, Barrister-at-Law; Michael Smithwick, Barrister-at-Law, Dublin; Stephen J. Barrett, Dublin, Treasurer, Gaelic League; Patrick Doody, Teacher at St. Enda’s; and Eamonn O’Toole, also a teacher at St. Enda’s. Each of the seven held one share, the company having a capital of £8,000 in shares of £1 each. The Directors are named as Pearse, Dolan, Wilson, Smithwick and Barrett (but not the two teachers); the Secretary pro tem is [the accountant] Donal O’Connor, 13 Westmoreland St., Dublin. The Prospectus includes detailed statements of the cost of acquiring the premises,initial expenditures,cash subscribed, arrangements concerning [its sister school] St. Ita’s, salary due to Mr. Pearse, and anticipated revenue and costs, showing a small surplus. It also includes the membership of an Educational Council including Seamus MacManus, Edward Martyn and Shane Leslie. Accompanying this folio is a summary document, Memorandum and Articles of Association of Sgoil Eanna, the Memorandumwith the original signatures of fi ve subscribers - Smithwick, Wilson, Pearse, Barrett and Dolan -- and the Articles of Association also signed by the fi ve subscribers including Pearse. Each of these two pages is also signed at foot by Patk MacKenna, Shop Assistant, Ardee, as witness. St. Enda’s was founded in 1908 in Cullenswood House, Ranelagh. The present documents were drawn up after its move to larger premises at Rathfarnham in 1910. It must have been a proud day for Pearse when he signed these documents, giving legal status to his plans and dreams for a new kind of Irish education at St. Enda’s. Of course there was never any surplus; the school never paid its costs, and Pearse spent much of his time in the ensuing years trying to keep it a fl oat by various expedients. Nevertheless it remains an important experiment, and an unforgettable experience for many of those who took part. The school remained open until 1935, with State support, and the house and grounds are now a museum and public park. These founding documents are of the fi rst importance for the history of Irish education. Both documents a little bumped at corners, but generally very good. € 3000 - 5000 1012 Plunkett, Joseph Mary [1887-1916], Proclamation Signatory An original Painting of a Landscape Scene, oil on canvas board, framed, 29cms x 39cms (11 ½ ” x 15 ½ ”), Signed Ióseph Ó Pluinghcéid lower left, further signed and inscribed on rear in Irish, ‘Ióseph Ó Pluinghcéid / Sráid Mhic Uí Uilliam Uachtar / Baile Átha Cliath / Tobar Neamh-Parthalán’ [St. Bartholomew’s Well] and dated 1916. (1) Joseph Plunkett was a son of George Noble Plunkett, an antiquarian and fi ne art connoisseur, Director of the National Museum 1907-16 and prominent in other learned societies. Joseph was a poet and a friend of Thomas MacDonagh, and became editor of the Irish Review , and although he was seriously ill with TB (then an incurable disease), he became Director of Operations for the Irish Volunteers and a member of the I R B’s Military Council. It is said that he drafted the plan for the Dublin rising. He was one of the seven signatories of the Provisional Government’s Proclamation of Independence. He left a convalescent home to serve in the GPO through the Rising, where his aide-de-camp was Michael Collins, and afterwards was court-martialled and sentenced to death. Shortly before his execution,he married his sweetheart Grace Gi ff ord in Kilmainham Jail. As well as his poetry, he painted as a recreation, including some landscapes of Mayo and Donegal scenes, where he went to learn Irish. A watercolour was sold at Adams in April 2016; this is the fi rst oil painting we have seen. Although the provenance is obscure, there is in our view no doubt about the signature and inscription. There is a St. Bartholomew’s Well (Tobar Pharthaláin) near Bantry, Co. Cork; there may be others. € 1000 - 1500 1011 Ful fi llment of Pearse’s Dream Signed Twice by Pearse