De Búrca Ra re Books France. Ill health had caused him to winter abroad in a warmer climate, but he made it clear that he wanted to be buried in Sligo 'under bare Ben Bulben's head' beside Drumcliffe Church, where his greatgrandfather had been Rector from 1811-1846. War intervened and it was not until September 1948 that the poet returned to Sligo. On 17th September, the L.E. Macha came from Nice to the port in Galway, and the funeral cortege came by road to Sligo. The poet lay in State, with a Guard of Honour, outside the Town Hall - all shops in Sligo closed for four hours - before moving on to Drumcliffe for the burial. The person in charge of this operation for the Irish Government was Sean MacBride, son of Maud Gonne MacBride, and then Minister of External Affairs. His epitaph is taken from the last lines of "Under Ben Bulben", one of his final poems: Cast a cold Eye On Life, on Death. Horseman, pass by!
399. YEE, Chiang. The Silent Traveller in Dublin. Illustrated by the author with 12 plates in colour, 4 in mono & 47 line drawings. New York: John Day, 1953. pp. xi, 146. Cream cloth, title in blue on upper cover and spine. Owner's signature on front endpaper. A very good copy in frayed dust jacket. €35 DECORATED BY MAUD GONNE 400. [YOUNG, Ella] A Celtic Wonder-Tale. Re-told by Ella Young. Illustrated by Maud Gonne. New edition. Dublin: Talbot Press, 1923. pp. vii, 202. Green cloth, title in gilt on upper cover and spine. A very good copy. Scarce. €125
Ella Young (1865-1951), poet and children's author, was born in Antrim to a staunch Presbyterian family. She took her degree in political science and law in Dublin. She joined the Hermetical Society, founded by AE (George Russell), who once called her 'a druidess reincarnated'. A staunch Republican, she was involved in gun-running during the period of the 1916 Rising. Ella is best known as a writer of children's stories based on Celtic myth and legend. The book is handsomely illustrated by Maud Gonne MacBride. Immortalised by Yeats, she was an outstanding beauty who spent much of her long life as a passionate advocate of Irish freedom. This work is dedicated to her son Seaghan.
ADDENDA 401. BRUNET, Alexander. The Regal Armorie of Great Britain, from the time of the Ancient Britons to the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: the Institution of Chivalry, and the Origin of Emblematic Insignia in Ancient Nations. Coloured frontispiece. €225
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