A very rare 9ct gold Medal issued to commemorate the first ever All-Ireland football Championship, 1887, is the top lot at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Book & Collectors’ Sale in Dublin on May 30 and 31. The medal is hall marked and with the name of the retailer A Duffner, Tipperary, was won by Jeremiah Kennedy of Limerick Commercials. They beat Young Irelands of Louth, on a score line of 1-4 to 0-3 at a match played in Clonskeagh in April 1888. The sale, which will be held at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, will include a selection from the library at Birr Castle; The Andrew Sharkey Fishing Collection; a private American Collection of Seamus Heaney material and lots from important libraries and collections.
There is a unique collection of volumes on Astronomy, rare photographs of the Moon; fine coloured plate books on Natural History, Birds, Animals, Plants; a good collection of fishing books; a large collection of worldwide travel, many by Irish authors; scarce maps and atlases; recently discovered Colonial watercolours and drawings by Sir William Young and a large collection of scarce Irish books. There is a First English Limited Edition of Ulysses, signed by James Joyce as well as books by Yeats and Heaney and 1,100 lots. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing in Stillorgan on May 28 and 29.