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Purcell Auctioneers: Book Auction of c. 580 Lots to include Antiquarian Books incl. Books from Three Private Libraries, Rare - Signed - Limited Editions, Local Histories, Republican Interest Books, GAA etc, 51326, Birr

Auction Details

Auction Report
Auction Date
May 13, 2026 - May 13, 2026
Page Size: 556 items in 23 pages
Auction Lot Books
Lot Number Author Name Book Title Place Printed Year Published Estimate Actual Price
402 Robert Lloyd Praeger

The Way That I Went

1937 GBP 60.00 - 120.00 GBP 37.50
403 Patrick Kavanagh; Peter Kavanagh

By Night Unstarred. An Autobiographical Novel; The Green Fool

1977; 1973 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
404 Eilis Dillon; Anthony Cronin

Across the Bitter Sea : a novel; The Life of Riley

1973; 1964 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
405 Hugh Leonard; Anne Enright

N Books, including: Home Before Night

1979; 1989; 1992; 2002; 2007 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
406 Pat Mullen

Irish Tales

London, United Kingdom 1938 GBP 100.00 - 140.00 GBP 175.00
407 Lord Dunsany; William Rothenstein; Hugh Findlay

A Night at the Inn; The Year; Twenty-Four Portraits; Isle of Destiny

1920; 1946; 1920; 1941 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 GBP 50.00
408 John O’Donohue

Anam Cara

1997 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 Not Sold
409 William Trevor; Jamie O'Neill

Night at the Alexandra; Disturbance- A Novel

1987; 1989 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
410 George Moore; S K Hutton

Confessions of a Young Man; Celibate Lives; By Eskimo Dog-Sled and Kayak

1933; 1927; 1919 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
411 Roddy Doyle; Ciaran Carson

The Van; The Star Factory

1991; 1997 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
412 James Plunkett; Jamie O'Neill; John Peck

Strumpet City; At Swim, Two Boys; Dublin from Downing St.

1969; 2001; 1978 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
413 Paul Durcan

A School Geometry Parts I-IV; French Grammer; The Ideal Temperance Reciter

1955 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 Not Sold
414 Claire Keegan; Frederic Mullally

Walk The Blue Fields; The Silver Salver-The Story of the Guinness Family

2007; 1981 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
415 Flavius Josephus; William Whiston; Mrs L T Meade; J H Mortimer; John Forbes; William S Braithwaite

The Works of Flavius Josephus; A Sister of the Red Cross- A Tale of the South African War; Confessions of a Book agent or Twenty years by Statge and Rail; Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest; The Book of Elizabethan Verse

1844; 1906; 1829; 1908 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
416 Jacob Poole; William Barnes

A Glossary With Some Pieces Of Verse Of The Old Dialect Of The English Colony In The Forth And Bargy County Of Wexford Ireland Formerly Collected By Jacob Poole

London 1867 GBP 300.00 - 400.00 GBP 350.00
417 T Ryle Dwyer; John Horgan; Alex Findlater

Short Fellow-a biography of Charles J Haughey; Sean Lemass- The Enigmatic Patriot; Findlater- The Story of a Dublin Merchant Family 1774-2001

1999; 1997; 2001 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
418 Peter Stanford; T Ryle Dwyer; Kazuo Ishiguro

Lord Longford- an authorised life; Nice Fellow-a biography of Jack Lynch; The Remains of the Day; The Unconsoled

1994; 2001; 1989; 1995 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
419 Lady Gregory; Lennox Robinson

Lady Gregory's Journal

1946 GBP 80.00 - 160.00 GBP 225.00
420 Brendan Kennelly

The Florentines

1967 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 75.00
421 Evelyn Waugh; Graham Greene

Officers and Gentlemen; The Honorary Consul; A Burnt Out Case

1955; 1973; 1961 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 56.25
422 Maxine Jones; Robert Munter

Successful Irish Business Women; A Dictionary of the Print Trade in Ireland 1550-1775

1992; 1988 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
423 Brian Moore; Mary O'Rouke

Lies of Silence; Letters of my Life

1990; 2016 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
424 W.B. Yeats

Reveries Over Childhood and Youth and The Trembling of the Veil

New York 1927 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
425 W B Yeats

The Wild Swans at Coole

London 1919 GBP 200.00 - 400.00 GBP 412.50
426 William Butler Yeats

Selected Poems

New York N/A GBP 250.00 - 300.00 GBP 312.50
  • Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
    Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
    Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
    Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
    Forum Auctions
    The 10th Anniversary Sale
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    July 16, 2026
    Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
    Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
    Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
  • Sotheby’s
    Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
    25 June – July 7
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000