With an original copy of the Irish Constitution, a first edition of Ulysses in the centenary year of its publication, the pocket seal of Michael Collins engraved with his initials, facsimiles of The Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, a collection of Beatles signatures, an album signed by Jimi Hendrix and Cork’s first All-Ireland Football gold medal from 1894 there is little not to like about Fonsie Mealy’s Christmas Rare Books and Collectors sale.
“Here be Treasure” is what they used to write on the old pirates maps and “X marks the Spot”. In this auction there is a respectable quota of 1,156 x’s. That is the number of lots due to come under the hammer over two days of sales ON December 6 and 7 at the Talbot Hotel in Dublin. With estimates of €20-€30 euro (for a match programme and scarf from Ireland’s first win over New Zealand in Dublin in 2018) to €140,000-€180,000 (for the Irish Constitution) there is material in this sale to cater for many interests across all price ranges. A life sized replica of the shrine of St. Manchan in wood, plaster of Paris and gilding, commissioned by Sir William Wilde (Oscar’s dad) and presented to the 3rd Earl of Dunraven, conveys the magnificence of one of the finest examples of 12th century metalwork to have survived in Ireland at Boher in Co. Offaly. The replica, displayed at Adare Manor for over a century and included in the contents sale there in 1982, is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.
Among the highlights is a collection of gold and silver medals awarded to John Enright of Limerick including the World Fly Fishing Tournament at Wimbledon in 1896, an archive of documents relating to Hugh Kennedy (1879-1936), first Attorney General and Chief Justice of the Irish Free State, An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland, 1791 signed by Wolfe Tone and the controversial Cork All-Ireland football gold medal of 1894 featured on these pages last Saturday. The Michael Collins memorabilia includes a copy of the London accounts for the Treaty negotiations, his shillelagh and his pocket seal. There is an intriguing note with an almost certain intelligence connection seeking “any particulars”.
There will be competition for a collection of album covers with signatures by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul and Linda McCartney as well as the album Axis: Bold as Love signed by Jimi Hendrix (who would have been 80 this week).A folio of ten large watercolour drawings of Ireland’s geological landscape by George Victor du Noyer (€4,000-€5,000) is another rarity. There is no shortage of signed first editions of books of poetry, literature and popular fiction, medals, coins, banknotes, historic match programmes, cinema posters, soldiers letters and even a boxing glove signed by Joe Frazier and George Foreman. The catalogue is online.
