Rare Book & Collectors' Sale 1st & 2nd October 2025

108 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 904. [SINN FEIN BANK] 1908-1924 and associated concerns, and other concerns. An important collection of Documents, including five folio ledgers, one qtr. leather and four cloth, apparently containing what remains of the accounts of the Sinn Fein Cooperative People’s Bank, these volumes covering circa 1908-1921 (at least in part): as follows. Three folio ledgers containing a continuous record of deposits and loans 1913-1919; 1913-May 1917, June 1917-Oct. 1918 and Oct. 1918- July 1919, with clients’ names and addresses; with two further ledgers listing loan records 1908-1920, and 1913-1920 with cash payments 1921. The Bank was placed in liquidation in late 1923. Some with manuscript entries by Michael Collins (Minister for Finance). A letter book [No. 1] for the Sinn Fein Printing & Publishing Co., 12 September 1909 to 18 Sept. 1911, thick quarto, paper covers, much worn, urgently needs rebinding, fully indexed at front, contains typescript and ms. carbon copies to various clients, including for example Jack B. Yeats [p.366], Miss E.C. Yeats [209,353,366,], etc. Very useful guide to the company’s business and its clients. Some of the companies clients are listed as G.A.A. Central Council, Cathal Brugha, Dublin Steam Packet Company, Eamon Ceanat, Roger Casement, Easons, Douglas Hyde, Kilkenny Woodworkers, Cló Cumann Ltd., Freeman Journal, Gaelic League, Metropolitan School of Art, Countess Markiewicz, Padraig MacPiarsiagh, Eoin McNeill, Pierse McCann, Luke J. O’Toole, Miss O’Farrelly, William O’Brien, Bernard Quaritch, Liam de Roiste, Shelbourne A.F.C., Irish Homestead, Irish Times, Ulster/ Munster/Leinster G.A.A. Council, William Tempest (Dundalgan Press), Liam McCarthy, Maurice O’Connell. A folder containing documents relating to the accountant D. O’Connor and his personal and business affairs (including Sinn Fein business), including some ms. accounts in red ink headed ‘London Office Account, 31 March 1922’ and other dates, worn and frayed at foot, listing substantial sums up to four figures, a circular from An Chomhairle Náisiúnta, 22 August 1908, inviting support for the Sinn Fein fund; a letter addressed to D. O’Connor Esq., Professor of Accountancy [1912]; five ALS in Irish to ‘A Chara Dhil’, signed N.S. MacDubhgháin [?] 1905 & 1906, the third saying ‘Theip orm Mac Uí Choileáin fheiscint i bParis, bhí sé i Londain Shasana …Tá sé ag scríobhadh chun Art Ó Gríobhtha … Seo mar scríobh Mac Uí Ch. ‘na litir chugamsa, ‘Cé nach bhfuil tásc ná tuairisc agam go bhfuil aon uisce-fé-thalamh dá dhéanamh in aghaidh Chonnradh na Gaedhilge san Róimh, feictear dom gur féidir a leithéid a bheith ann’, etc. [this ‘Mac Uí Choileáin’ possible to be Michael Collins, who was 16 in 1906 and had just started work as a post office clerk in London]; several ALS on Cumann nan Gael notepaper from A. MacGiolla Íosa, 1905- 6, mainly about Irish language examination papers; a small file on Rialtas Sealadach na h’Éireann notepaper, Jan. 1922, concerning insurance on government offices; a carbon copy typescript to President concerning endorsement of Insurance Companies by members of the Dail, unsigned but dated 9/11/21 in pencil, in a hand which could be Michael Collins’; two ALS from T.W. Lyster of NLI about candidates for appointment, 1908; some personal letters; a few circulars from Comhar-Bhannc Sinn Fein Teór. [Sinn Fein Cooperative Bank Ltd.] 1910, etc. LETTER BOOK. A stoutly bound volume, thick quarto, hf. leather, containing some 140 carbon copies of outgoing typescript letters, 1922-1924, with a further 50+ typescript carbon copies loosely laid in at front, mostly 1924, mostly from the Supervisor, Registrar of Friendly Societies [D. O’Connor], mostly concerning regulatory matters, some letters soiled, but legible. A stoutly bound lockable ledger, quarto, qtr red Morocco, containing accounts, 1913-1921, including Audit Fee Account, Travelling Account, etc. probably mostly relating to D. O’Connor’s business affairs, also a Miss Barry, who may be an office manager or similar. Post Office Workers Union. A folio ledger, blue card, much worn, containing Accounts, 1923-1927, some related documents laid in; also a ledger, folio red patterned boards, apparently containing accounts for a grocery business, possibly the GPO Refreshments Club, circa 1929. Hugh Gallagher & Co. [Established 1770]. A folio dark blue ledger, much worn, containing ms. accounts 1921-1924. Apparently a Ballina concern. * The Sinn Fein Co-Operative People’s Bank was founded in 1908 by a group including Arthur Griffith, P.T. Daly and George Russell [AE]. Its aim was to channel small savings away from the British insurance companies, and to give small borrowers an alternative to the moneylenders. It also offered account services and perhaps some liquidity to Sinn Fein itself. It apparently traded successfully until the Civil War; it was wound up in 1923. Its accounts, and those of many other national concerns, were audited by Donal O’Connor. Not much has been written about the Sinn Fein Bank, understandably since the basic documents have not been available (apparently they have been in an attic for about a century). The present collection is not a complete record, but it appears to be all that remains, and it includes much detail about clients names, loan payments, etc. which would be very useful to a researcher. Condition is poor, but could be much improved by rebinding. (1) €6,000 - €8,000