Rare Book & Collectors' Sale June 23rd, 24th & 25th 2026

94 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 A highly important original Archive of Vellum Patents, Legal Documents, including Deeds, Conveyances, Mortgages, and similar on vellum and paper, debentures for private boxes, assignments, rentals, solicitors’ letters, council statements etc., etc. All contained in original black tin deed box, inscribed “The Western Trust Ltd., Trustees for Debenture Holders. The Gaiety Theatre.” In all approx. 200 documents. (1) The Gaiety Theatre first opened its doors in 1871, in Dublin’s South King Street, just a stone’s throw from St. Stephen’s Green. It was custom-built as a musical theatre by two brothers, John and Michael Gunn, sons of a Scotsman who settled in Dublin, where he ran a business selling musical instruments and sheet music. The theatre was reputedly built in just 28 weeks, start to finish (no planning permission required in those days). The architect was Charles John Phipps, who had already designed several British theatres. The first performance, on November 27, 1871, was a revival of Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘She Stoops to Conquer’. With an orchestra pit, a well-equipped stage, and ranks of plush seating including a parterre, a grand circle, rows of boxes and ‘the Gods’, the Gaiety was well equipped to stage popular musical comedies, light opera and similar works; but it also catered at times for the serious theatre. In October 1901 the Gaiety staged the Irish Literary Theatre’s production of Douglas Hyde’s ‘Casadh an tSúgáin’ (the first play in Irish performed on a professional stage) and ‘Diarmuid and Gráinne’ by W.B. Yeats and George Moore – the production which inspired James Joyce to write his celebrated essay ‘The Day of the Rabblement’ (he would have preferred Ibsen). Later again, in the thirties and forties, the Gaiety provided a home for Edwards- MacLiammoir’s Dublin Gate productions when the Gate itself was booked by Lord Longford. In our own time, its excellent acoustics accommodated the RTE Symphony Orchestra before the conversion of the National Concert Hall; and it is still there, still welcoming audiences every week, when others such as the Theatre Royale are no more. Artists who performed there over the years include Sarah Bernhardt, Eileen Terry, Luciano Pavarotti, Maureen Potter, Jimmy O’Dea, the Carl Rosa Opera Co., the D’Oyly Carte company, and many others. Principal contents, which is included in original metal Deed Box, inscribed: Includes: - The original manuscript Patent of the Theatre Royal in Hawkins St., Dublin, dated February 1861, granted to William George Bicknell, on two sheets of vellum approx. 28 ins square, engraved borders, with a large and impressive dark green wax Great Seal of Ireland approx. 6” diam., in excellent condition, showing on one side Victoria on her throne, on the other Victoria on horseback over a harp device with crown. - The original manuscript Patent granted in March 1871 to George and Michael Gunn to establish ‘a substantial commodious and handsome Theatre, suitable for the performance of Dramatic and Operatic entertainments’, manuscript on two large sheets of vellum, c. 28 ins x 23 ins, engraved borders, with a large dark green wax Great Seal of Ireland as above. - A second manuscript Patent dated August 1891, to the Gunns as before, manuscript on two large sheets of vellum approx. 31 ins x 28 ins, engraved borders, with large dark green wax Great Seal of Ireland as above. [These large Victorian seals are extremely scarce, especially in excellent condition as here. - A further manuscript Patent issued to Michael Gunn, March 1895, for establishing a Theatre on the site of Leinster Hall, Hawkins Street, formerly the site of the Theatre Royal then owned by Gunn, destroyed by fire in 1880, etc., four sheets of vellum approx. 30” x 28”, with large green wax Great Seal of Ireland as above. - Schedule of the Deeds & Documents relating to the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, contained in this Deed Box, folio typescript, 3 sections, dated 25.3.36, with a separate smaller page relating to estate of Loroka Ducos & others, in a brown legal envelope. - Abstract of Title of Gunn and Sons Ltd. to Gaiety Theatre & c., Michael Kavanagh, Solicitor, 40 Stephens Green, Dublin, folio typescript with m/ss. notes, circa 30 pp, circa 1901. - Memorandum and Articles of Association of Gunn Gaiety Dublin, Ltd., 37 pp, 1906; similar for Gunn & Sons Ltd., 1899; similar for The Gaiety Theatre (Dublin) Ltd., circa 1909. - Bundle of circa 16 legal documents, Assignments etc., mostly Gunn family, late 19th c. - A smaller bundle of circa 9 documents, mostly debentures for private boxes, also a release of mortgage, late 19th c. - A thick bundle of legal documents, conveyances, deeds, mortgages and similar, on vellum or paper, mostly manuscript, mostly late 19th c., about 25 documents. - A thick solicitor’s envelope marked Gaiety Theatre: Bundle No. 2: Deeds relating to purchase of Head Interest from Madame de Seroka & Madame Ganderatz, approx 30 legal documents on vellum or paper, mostly manuscript with a few typescript, relating to previous buildings and properties on the South King Street site since about 1757, including indentures, leases, rentals, conveyances, mortgages, a will, a legal opinion, statement for counsel’s opinion, draft statement of title, a declaration of trust, various searches, families of Bradstreet, Simpson, Richey, de Seroka, Rooke, etc. - the legal background to the assembly of the site for the Theatre, in itself a chapter of Dublin’s commercial history. - Bundle of about 20 documents, mostly 20th c., mostly legal, including Conveyance of The Gaiety Theatre Dublin, 1 May 1909, Gunn & Sons (1st part), Gunn Gaiety Dublin Ltd. (2nd part), The Dublin Theatre Co. Ltd. (3rd part); also some later documents including draft mortgage, Gaiety Theatre (Dublin) to David Allen & Sons Theatres (1925) Ltd., July 1936, etc. Overall, this is a very significant archive from two separate points of view: first, as a record of the ownership and development of two (or perhaps three) theatres which have given enormous pleasure to ten generations of Dubliners, with no fewer than four original Victorian patents on vellum, each with a fine example of the Great Seal of Ireland attached (these patents, with their seals, are eminently suitable for display); and secondly, as what appears to be a very full record of the property arrangements and transactions which facilitated these theatrical enterprises, all located on the south side of the Liffey within a stone’s throw of St. Stephen’s Green, in what has always been a prime area for commercial property of all kinds. It is curious that Michael Gunn, evidently the prime mover in these enterprises, is not listed in the Dictionary of Irish Biography - an omission which surely should now be repaired. As an Archive, w.a.f. €7,000 - €9,000 754. Gaiety Theatre (Dublin) and Theatre Royal