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  • BANNED YEATS PRINTS THE TOP LOT AT MEALY’S

    Kittie's Toys by Jack B. Yeats. (Click on image to enlarge).

    A set of nine hand coloured block prints by Jack B.Yeats banned in Ireland in 1918 by the British censor was the top lot at a sale entitled Ireland’s Struggle at Mealy’s in Dublin on April 25.  Yeats illustrated Kittie’s Toys, a poem by Dora Sigerson Shorter.  The illustrations were never published.  The censor said there was no objection to the illustrations, but banned publication of the poem, even though it had already been published. Sigerson’s poem is an allegory in the style of a child’s song, about young Kittie [Cathleen Ni Houlihan], who envies her friend Marie’s toy soldiers, Gretchen’s flag, and Johnny’s fleet  –  all things that were stolen from Kittie by her rough neighbour Johnny (Bull).  The nine prints – a cover design, a title-page and seven page designs to appear with the seven verses – were estimated at 5,000-6,000.  They sold for 9.500.

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