An ALBUM of Irish Nationalist Songs and Speeches, printed, typed, and manuscript.

(Ireland, Easter Rising.)

An ALBUM of Irish Nationalist Songs and Speeches, printed, typed, and manuscript.

Description: pasted clippings and broadsides with manuscript material, some light soiling, pp. [155], 4to, maroon cloth-backed notebook with marbled boards, heavily worn, numerous loose pages, some with old tape to gutter, fair

Publication Details: [circa 1917?]

Notes: The album contains almost 130 songs, both historical to the Rising and contemporary, with occasional transcripts of letters and speeches interspersed. There is a roughly equal balance of manuscript and printed material – the latter in the form of both clippings from various sources and small broadsheets. Many of these are widely known, some scarce though with comparable examples (occasionally with variants) held at the NLI or TCD – but, in the case of some, other examples could not be traced.In respect of the manuscript material, the hand is consistent throughout, but the album does not b...moreThe album contains almost 130 songs, both historical to the Rising and contemporary, with occasional transcripts of letters and speeches interspersed. There is a roughly equal balance of manuscript and printed material – the latter in the form of both clippings from various sources and small broadsheets. Many of these are widely known, some scarce though with comparable examples (occasionally with variants) held at the NLI or TCD – but, in the case of some, other examples could not be traced.In respect of the manuscript material, the hand is consistent throughout, but the album does not bear the name of its compiler – nevertheless, it serves as an excellent repository of Irish rebel songs at the historical moment that was their apogee.The preliminary material provides two possible titles: 'Irish Verse', this clipped from a newspaper surrounded by various quotations (and the Irish flag, hand-coloured), or, in manuscript above a dedication 'to those who have fought and died', 'Songs and Poems of the Irish Republican Army'; these are followed by photographic portraits of various prominent nationalists clipped from newspapers, some – for example, James Connolly and Roger Casement – with a manuscript note recording their execution. HIDE