antiquesandartireland.com

An original print copy of the 1916 Proclamation sold for 96,000 at James Adam in Dublin today.  The Proclamation of  the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic to the People of Ireland was printed at Liberty Hall on the evening of Sunday, April 23 and read by Patrick Pearse outside the GPO, Dublin on the morning of Easter Monday at the start of the Easter Rising.

 

The paper was of poor quality but this copy, which is glazed, had been professionally repaired.  It is believed that no more than 50 copies of the first printing have survived.  The text was printed under armed Citizen Army guard at Liberty Hall using paper bought by James Connolly for his Workers’ Republic and a font of type borrowed from a nearby printer.

The Proclamation of the Irish Republic, recognised as the founding document of modern Irish nationhood, was drafted probably by Patrick Pearse, possibly with amendments by Thomas MacDonagh and James Connolly. The original manuscript has never been found.  This one is believed to have been originally in a house in Harcourt St. which was at one time a ‘safe house’ for Michael Collins.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 24, 2013).