Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers RARE BOOK & COLLECTORS SALE 6th & 7th, December 2022

122 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 668. ‘The Old Forces of Mediocrity, Malice and Death’ Kavanagh (Patrick) A remarkable manuscript statement, eight lines in green ink, Signed, responding to the failure of his celebrated libel action over a profile published in ‘The Leader’, 1 pp on verso of a torn sheet (no loss) of A-6 headed paper from Four Courts Hotel, Dublin, dated on recto in another hand Feb. 12th 1954 – the day after the verdict was declared. ‘I was not personally shocked by the verdict. I was ashamed of the society in which I live. I was sorry that the vital and gay new Ireland I represented had been repudiated by the old forces of mediocrity, malice and death. I have kept my integrity. It is not I who have lost. This is not the final judgement. Patrick Kavanagh’. Fluently written, with no corrections or hesitations, possibly intended as a statement to the press; evidently given to his friend Elinor O’Brien. Kavanagh sued the Leader magazine over a profile, which he contended was defamatory. The defendant’s barrister was John A. Costello, later Taoiseach, who subjected Kavanagh to a devastating (though not unfair) cross-examination. The turning point came when Kavanagh denied knowing Brendan Behan, and Costello produced a book warmly inscribed by Kavanagh to Behan. The jury found against Kavanagh. The verdict was appealed, a support fund was set up, and it appears Kavanagh did eventually secure a small settlement. A unique document, and a fine statement of defiance, although the jury’s verdict meant the collapse of Kavanagh’s hopes of receiving significant damages. €2000 - €3000 669 & 670: See page 123 671. Hyde (Dr. Douglas). A collection of three ALS, as follows: – ALS on paper of Union Society, Oxford, dated Márta 5 ’05, to ‘A chara’, ‘I shall be delighted to help the Cumann na Leabharlann in any way I can .. Mise do chara, An Craoibhín.’ – ALS on his Frenchpark notepaper, Lughnasa 1, ’05, ‘A chara dhílis, Beidh an-áthas orainn go léir an teachtaireacht sin fheiscint ó Chumann na Leabharlann, & go mór mór má’s féidir leis an sean- ghaisgidheach an t-Ingramach bheith i láthair ..’ (the old warrior John Kells Ingram, author of ‘Who Fears to Speak’?). – ALS on plain paper, in Irish, agreeing to submit a letter as requested, probably a testimonial. As a collection (3). €300 - €500 672. Rare Private Account Manuscript: [Kavanagh (Patrick)] A Manuscript Account, 11 pages, dated 20/9/1989, apparently by Mary O’Halpin, elder sister of Patrick Kavanagh’s widow Katherine (nee Moloney), describing Katherine’s unexpected death, the decision to bury her with her late husband in Inniskeen, as requested in her will, a phone call to Kavanagh’s brother Peter in New York, his opposition to the plan (allegedly describing the reopening of the grave as ‘a desecration’), followed by events at the graveyard in Inniskeen, where the wrong grave was initially opened. Katherine’s family stood firm, with support from various poets including John Montague and Anthony Cronin, and eventually Katherine’s body was laid to rest with her husband as she had requested. As a m/ss, w.a.f. (1) A very interesting document. With a cutting of a newspaper interview with Peter Kavanagh. €200 - €300 673. De Valois & Fonteyn in Dublin Autograph Book compiled by a Dublin theatregoer 1938-9, including signatures of the distinguished dancers Ninette de Valois (born in Co. Wicklow as Edris Stannus), Margot Fonteyn and Robert Helpmann, also other dancers, actors George Formby and Margaretta Scott, band leader Billy Cotton, comedian Jimmy O’Dea, radio host Joe Linnane, [Lord Mayor] Alfie Byrne (in English and Irish), and the great singer John Count McCormack. Some signatures on tipped in letters or photos. Ninette de Valois, born near Blessington in 1898, danced with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes before setting up the Vic-Wells Ballet School in London, and later at the request of W.B. Yeats, the Abbey Theatre School of Ballet in Dublin. She invited Margot Fonteyn, then aged 14, to join Vic-Wells, where she danced with the Australian-born Robert Helpmann, becoming prima ballerina in 1935. The three signatures sum up a whole era in dance. With a printed menu for the Officers’ Dinner of the Irish Red Cross Association, Dublin Division, July 1943, 4pp, with about 20 signatures including the chairperson [Judge] Conor Maguire (later Chief Justice). (1) €80 - €120 674. [Musical Interest] Official Programme Book of Words Concert - Monday 7th March 1904, Dublin, D. (Waller & Co.) 1904, 8vo, 10pps, ptd. wrappers. Scarce. (1) €120 - €140 668 671 673