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
100 Geoffrey Green

THE HISTORY OF THE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

London, United Kingdom 1953 GBP 100.00 - 140.00 GBP 68.75
101 Art O Maolfabhail; Joe Lennon; Con Houlihan

N Books, including: Caman – 2000 Years of Hurling in Ireland

1973; 1997; 2003 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 81.25
102 Tom McElligot

Handball: The Game, The Players, The History

1984 GBP 80.00 - 160.00 Not Sold
103 Jim Fogarty; Ralph Riegel; Tom Williams

N Books, including: The Dan Breen Cup

2012; 2008; 2006 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 GBP 56.25
104 Marcus de Burca; Padraig Puirseal; Martin Breheny

N Books, including: The Story of the GAA to 1990

1990; 1984; 2007 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 Not Sold
105 Meda Ryan; Joyce Marlow; Lord Longford

N Books, including: Tom Barry- IRA Freedom Fighter

2003; 1975; 1972 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 43.75
106 John Mathews

N Books, including: Drogheda Board of Guardians Election pamphlet

1925 GBP 60.00 - 120.00 GBP 475.00
107 Micheline Kerney Walsh; F S L Lyons; John P Predergast

N Books, including: Destruction By Peace- Hugh O'Neill after Kinsale

1986; 1977; 1960; 1996 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 62.50
108 Tom Barry; Joe Tiernan

N Books, including: The Capuchin Annual 1966

1966; 1963; 1971; 2004 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 50.00
109 John Mitchell; Terence MacSweeney

N Books, including: Jail Journal

1913; 1921 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 62.50
110 Alice L Milligan

The Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone

Belfast 1898 GBP 80.00 - 120.00 GBP 68.75
111 Arthur Edward Mainwaring

Crown and Company: the historical records of the 2nd Batt. Royal Dublin Fusiliers, formerly the 1st Bombay European Regiment

London 1911 GBP 60.00 - 80.00 GBP 75.00
112 Mark Ryan; Lord Ernest Hamilton

Fenian Memories

1946; 1920 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 Not Sold
113 Thomas MacDonagh

Literature in Ireland

1919; c. 1925 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 GBP 37.50
114 W.J. Brennan-Whitmore; Charles Dalton

With The Irish in Frongoch

1917; 1929 GBP 80.00 - 100.00 GBP 93.75
115 Thomas Kabdebo

The Hungarian-Irish "Parallel" and Arthur Griffith's use of his sources

Maynooth, St Patrick's College 1988 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 37.50
116 O’Malley & Dolan; Peter Hart; Sinead McCoole

N Books, including: The Civil War Papers of Ernie O’Malley

2007; 2005; 2003 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 Not Sold
117 Brian O'Higgins

Wolfe Tone annuals

1945; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1957 GBP 40.00 - 60.00 GBP 37.50
118 Arthur Griffith; Terence McSwiney

The Resurrection of Hungary- A Parallel for Ireland

1918; 1921 GBP 40.00 - 80.00 GBP 50.00
119

In the Prison of His Days for Nelson Mandela

Dublin 1990 GBP 120.00 - 180.00 GBP 250.00
120 Faul & Murray; Murray; McEvoy

4 Books, including: The Hooded Men – British Torture in Ireland, August – October, 1971

2015; 1990; 2001; 1998 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 68.75
121 Eamon De Valera

Ireland’s Stand being a selection of the Speeches of Eamon De Valera during the war [1939-1945]

Dublin 1946 GBP 80.00 - 140.00 GBP 187.50
122 Mac Eoin; Augusteijn; McAuliffe & O’Shea

The IRA in the Twilight Years; From Public Defiance to Guerrilla Warfare; Kerry 1916 – Historical Legacies of the Easter Rising

1997; 1996; 2016 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 GBP 62.50
123 Eamonn Mccann; Anthony Coughlan; Frank Aiken

20 Books, including: The British Press

1970; 1971; 1957 GBP 60.00 - 120.00 GBP 37.50
124 Coogan; Darrell Figgis; P. S. O’Hegarty; Louis Walsh

5 Books, including: Official Report on Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland

1921; 1918; 1914; 1921 GBP 50.00 - 80.00 Not Sold
  • 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
  • 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