Item 34 is Thirteen Irish Writers on Ireland. Portraits by Jack Coughlin (1972). It contains 13 green paper portfolios (what other color would you expect?). They contain text along with a signed, numbered etching by Coughlin. Among the writers depicted are Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Beckett and Behan. $2,000.
Item 73 is a group of seven menus celebrating the French fabulist Jean de La Fontaine. That may sound like an odd combination, but these weren't ordinary dinner menus. They were printed for the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, the French ocean liner operator. Cruise ships may have gotten some bad press lately, but in 1957, this was still the way to travel, though airplanes would soon spell the demise of the business. The menus feature an illustration of a La Fomtaine fable on the cover and the fable itself on the back cover. Menus items are printed in French and English. $160.
The Veatchs Arts of the Book can be reached at 413-584-1867 or veatchs@veatchs.com. Their website is www.veatchs.com.
