CUALA PRESS.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Michael O'Callaghan. 1879-1921. First edition, one of 100 copies. On 7 March 1921, O'Callaghan, the Mayor of Limerick, and George Clancy, the former mayor, were shot in their homes by masked men, believed to be Black and Tans. This commemorative prayer was privately printed for O'Callaghan's widow, Kate (née Murphy), to counter claims that the killings were carried out by the IRA. O'Callaghan was an industrial chemist and the director of a tanning firm. In 1905 he joined Limerick's first Sinn Féin club in Limerick and between 1914 and 1919 served on the Executive Committee of the Irish Volunteers. After the 1916 Rising, he was treasurer of the National Aid Association and campaigned for the release of prisoners from English prisons. He also spoke on behalf of Éamon de Valera in the 1917 by-election and was elected the first Republican Mayor of Limerick in 1920.The text, printed in Irish and English, commences, "Fuil na martíreach, síol saoirse na h-Éireann" ("The blood of the martyr, the seed of Ireland's freedom") and includes lines by James Stephens, the Irish novelist and poet.WorldCat records four institutional holdings: the National Library of Ireland (2 copies); University College, Cork; Columbia University; and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We can trace only one appearance at auction.

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