Rare GAA medals, colonial watercolours inherited by the Day family in Co. Cork, a first 1873 edition of The Birds of Great Britain by John Gould from the Birr Castle Estate, George O’Reilly’s collection of records signed by Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Roy Rogers and Frankie Laine and a 1936 first limited English edition of Ulysses signed by James Joyce are among the treasures at Fonsie Mealy’s rare book and collectors sale next week. A total of 1,136 lots will come under the hammer at two days of sales at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan on May 30 and 31. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing on tomorrow and Monday. There is a selection from the library at Birr Castle, the Andrew Sharkey fishing collection and a private collection of Seamus Heaney material.
Top lots include a 9 carat gold medal to commemorate the first ever All-Ireland Football Championships, 1887 won by Jeremiah Kennedy of Limerick Commercials (€15,000-€20,000) and a group of original watercolours of the West Indies c1792 by Sir William Young (€10,000-€15,000). Inherited by the Day family of Co. Cork they are on the market for the first time in more than 230 years.Sir William Young inherited four plantations in the West Indies and owned 896 enslaved Africans in 1788 at the time of this inheritance. He was opposed to the abolition of the slave trade and preached Christianity to his slaves. Appointed governor of Tobago in 1807 he was entrusted to supply an in depth report on the condition and treatment of slaves. At the time of the report the free population of Tobago was around 959 people, there was a 333 strong militia and 16,671 slaves.
