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

59 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 508. Significant Letter describing the fears of Irish Protestants in 1689. Co. Wexford: Letter dated at Enniscorthy, 5 June 1689, from Onesiphorus Phaire to his brother in Co. Cork, describing conditions in Co. Wexford. Onesiphorus Phaire (d 1702) was the eldest son of Colonel Robert Phaire (1619?-1682), soldier, landowner and industrialist, who had played an important role in the conquest of Munster by the Cromwellian army; rewarded with grants of land in counties Cork andWexford, he lived at Grange near Ovens and established ironworks near Enniscorthy, which were now being managed by his son. This letter was written at a perilous time for southern Irish Protestants: William and Mary had been crowne in Britain, James II had landed in Ireland and summoned a parliament in Dublin, and the writer fears that they will revoke the acts of settlement of 1652 and 1662 (they did). Phaire also speaks of rumours of an English army landing in Ireland (it did) and of the ruin of trade: “There is no mony to be had out of ye works, if it were not that my Brother[-in-law] Rogers and charity keeps [us] from starving, we might with ye song say, A begging we must go”. His fears were not unfounded: the family home at Grange was plundered and his stepmother “deprived of every beast she had but Dogs, Catts, Ratts or Mice” – but in the event the Williamites triumphed and the Phaire family recovered what they had lost, as a m/ss. (1) €600 - €800 509. “Great News from Dublin,” 1689 Broadside: “Great News from Dublin, Giving a True Account of the Seizing of a Ship coming from Ireland, with Fifty Commissions from the late King James, to several Gentlemen in Lancashire, in order (as suppos’d) to a Rebellion in England…” Broadside comprising text of a letter from Chester, 12 June 1689, signed “J.M.”. London, W. Downing, 1689. An important document showing what English people were being told about affairs in Ireland at this critical time in the island’s history. Despite its title, the news is actually somewhat mixed: the “pretended Parliament of Dublin” has rescinded the Act of Settlement, forfeited the estates of absentee Protestants, and imprisoned leading Anglican divines including Acton of Trinity College and Dr King (the future Archbishop of Dublin and historian of these events), leaving their flocks “very apprehensive of their Safety”. On the other hand, Colonel Kirk has set off to relieve Londonderry, which holds firm thanks to the labours of Doctor Walker and Lieutenant Baker; Lord Tyrconnel is seriously ill with the Black Jaundice and depressed by the death of his “reputed son” the Lord Galmoy; and many Irish soldiers, disillusioned by the haughtiness of their French masters, “desert daily, and take the Boggs for their Refuge”. Extremely Rare. (1) €800 - €1000 510. Manuscript Regulations for the British Army in Ireland, 1750s Contemporary Transcripts of regulations governing regiments of the Royal Army in Ireland, 1750-1755 (some earlier) . Every contingency is covered in minute detail – wages (the Surgeon is paid £4 for “Care of Venerall as well as other Desorders”); discipline (5s. to the Drum Major “to provide Necessaries for punishments”); cleanliness (daily inspections of barracks by a subaltern between 10 and 12 “to see that the Rooms and Stairs and Passages are kept clean, the Beds made, if anything is broken or wanting, and to enquire if the Men boyle their Kettles & Mess regularly”, etc.); disorders (“The Officer on the Barrack Guard to take care to Quell all Disturbances & Quarrells that shall happen in the Barracks or in the Neighbourhood of the Barracks …”). Folio, brown morocco, 93 pp. Fine armorial bookplate of the Earl of Cromer by J.F. Badeley, 1912. A fascinating and important document, w.a.f. (1) €800 - €1000 511. Fine Illuminated Collection Manuscript: The Title Page and first 18 verses of the 36 stanza Poem The Dream of Eugene Aram by Thomas Hood (1799- 1845), each written on a separate page with beautifully illuminated borders and decorations. The poem contrasts the innocent play of a group of schoolboys with the guilty dream of their master, the real-life murderer Eugene Aram (1704- 1759) As a m/ss., w.a.f. (1) €200 - €300 512. Gaelic Manuscript. A sheet numbered 19/20, possibly from a Notebook or Scrapbook, approx. 10cms x 19cms (4” x 7½”) bearing a short manuscript text in Irish translated from the Bible (Proverbs) - ‘ Honour thy father and mother’ etc. - with an elaborate initial, in a clear scribal hand, with a curious drawing to rear; and a second similar sheet numbered 47/48 with two lines of verse in Irish syllabic meter, drawing to reverse including a horned devil. Somewhat soiled but clearly legible. A curious survival, found tucked into a book. As a m/ss. (1) €200 - €300 508 509 510