The first edition of the first book published by an Irish author.
A landmark in Irish bibliography will lead the sale by Purcell Auctioneers in Birr on May 27. The first edition of the first book by an Irish author to write for the printing press rather than the scriptorum is estimated at €10,000-€15,000. Maurice O’Fehily: Questiones Subtilisme Scoti Metaphysicam Aristotelis (Most Subtle Questions of Duns Scotus on the Metaphysics of Aristotle) was published in Venice on November 20, 1497. It is thus an inculabula, the term which refers to the earliest printed works up to the year 1500. Maurice O’Fehily was born in Baltimore, Co. Cork. The Franciscan friar, theologian and author was appointed Archbishop of Tuam in 1506 and died in 1513.