Fragments of Irish history go under hammer
Sunday December 07 2008
In the days after the Easter Rising was put down, British soldiers discovered a section of the printing block for the proclamation as they searched Liberty Hall.
Now one of the rare "half proclamations" -- run off the press by soldiers -- is to be put up for auction at a sale of private manuscripts, books and artwork, including dozens of items of Irish historic significance.
The collections of Trinity- educated diplomat and Liberal politician Cecil Harmsworth and his son, the artist and publisher Desmond -- which includes private correspondence from WB Yeats, James Joyce, Oliver St John Gogarty and Lady Gregory -- are being sold by Bloomsbury Auctions in a two-day sale beginning on December 11.
The items on auction offer a unique insight into the turbulent days of the Rising and personal vignettes from James Joyce as he battled to save his eyesight, and to halt the decline of his beloved daughter Lucia, who was treated by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung for schizophrenia and spent much of her adult life in psychiatric institutions. There are also letters from WB Yeats relating to his battle to ensure that Hugh Lane's art collection came to Ireland.
Among the letters for sale is correspondence to Harms-worth from his older brother Lord Northcliffe a month after the Rising.
In the correspondence between Desmond Harms-worth and Joyce, the writer details the battle to save his eyesight by consulting the noted oculist Dr Vogt, and tells of how he asked Lucia to do some illustrative work as physical therapy in the aftermath of what appeared to be a nervous breakdown.
