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Ireland. The Proclamation of Independence of the Irish Republic
Description
Broadside (30 x 19 7/8 in.; 782 x 505 mm), text size (29 x 18 1/8 in.; 737 x 461 mm), printed in various founts; uniform browning, approximately a dozen small tears at folds, costing minor loss to 3 letters and touching about 2 others, withal a handsomely preserved copy.
Provenance
Literature
J. J. Bouch, "The Republican Proclamation of Easter Monday, 1916," in The Bibliographical Society of Ireland, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Dublin, 1936); Brennan-Whitmore, Dublin Burning (Dublin, 1996); M. Caulfield, The Easter Rebellion (Dublin, 1963, reissued 1995); Thomas M. Coffey, Agony at Easter (London, 1970); N. Grant, The Easter Rising (London, 1972)
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
One of approximately fifty extant copies of the founding charter of Irish nationhood, a fugitive survival in an extraordinary state of preservation. Printed at Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Easter Sunday 1916, it was read by one of the signers, Patrick Henry Pearse, on the steps of the General Post Office in Sackville Street (now called O'Connell Street), Dublin's main thoroughfare, on Easter Monday, which marked the beginning of the Easter Rising. Of the utmost rarity, the Proclamation is undoubtedly the most important and iconic document in the history of the Irish Nation, containing the first aspirations of the Republic. With its emphasis on freedom of the individual, "religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens" with a government in the form of a republic, this twentieth-century document finds its antecedent in none other than the American Declaration of Independence. Though the Rising failed, the principles of the Proclamation to varying degrees influenced the thinking of later generations of Irish politicians.
Pearse is generally credited with the authorship of the Proclamation, which was modeled on a similar independence proclamation issued during the 1803 Rebellion by Irish rebel Robert Emmet. James Connolly and Thomas MacDonagh are thought to have contributed some additional changes to the document. The original manuscript, which did not survive the Rising, was handed to Connolly by MacDonagh at the meeting of the Military Council at Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Easter Sunday morning. The printed signatures of the seven leaders of the Citizen Army at the bottom of the typeset broadside suggest that they actually signed the original manuscript. Pearse was an improbable choice for an insurgent leader but it was largely because of his oratorical gifts that he rose to prominence in national politics. The son of an Englishman and an Irish mother, Pearse was an idealist even in childhood. While still a boy he swore an oath to "free Ireland or die fighting the English!" (Caulfield, The Easter Rebellion, p. 25). His Proclamation text marries that shining, youthful idealism with Christian Socialist principles.
According to Bouch, three men, Christopher Brady, the printer, and two compositors, Michael Molloy and Liam O'Brien were summoned to Liberty Hall at 9AM on Easter Sunday. They were kept under virtual arrest by Connolly so that in the event the British stormed the Hall, it would be seen that the pressmen were working under duress. Copies of the Proclamation began rolling off an old, dilapidated Wharfdale Double-Crown flatbed press at about mid-day Easter Sunday. Because of a shortage of type, the printers used sealing wax to turn a capital F into a capital E ("The" in line 5); the "O's" in the second and fourth lines of ornamental wooden type are from two different founts (one plain, one ornamental with wedges cut out at the top and bottom of the letter); in the body of the text, one will find numerous gothic "e's" promiscuously mingled in. The "shoe" of the "r" in "Irish" is broken and the spacing furniture in line 5 ("To the People of Ireland") frequently caught the ink and as in this copy, showed a line of varying length (this mark is absent in subsequent editions). Lacking sufficient type, the printers were unable to set the entire document in one forme, so it was printed in two parts, with the type of the first section broken up after printing so that the second section could be set and printed; thus each sheet passed through the press twice. Because of these difficulties, it is estimated that no more than 1,000 copies were produced rather than the 2,500 that had been ordered since the intent was to distribute the document not only in Dublin but throughout the country. Through the process of attrition it is estimated that approximately fifty copies have survived. While no formal census has been established, copies have been located at the National Museum of Ireland (3 copies); the National Library of Ireland, Trinity College, University College Dublin, Kilmainham Jail, the General Post Office, Dublin, and the Dail Eireann. The latter copy was signed and presented by Rising participant Sean T. O'Kelly during his tenure as President of Ireland and is on permanent display at Leinster House where the Dail has met since 1922. Two copies have been located in the United States at Harvard University and the University of Kansas. Three copies recently sold to private individuals in our London rooms (8 July 2004, lot 9 and 16 December 2004, lot 35) and at Adam's and Mealy's Auctions, Dublin (15 April 2008, lot 587). National Museum of Ireland curator Michael Kenny is aware of three to four others in private hands and has had an opportunity to examine a dozen others over the course of several years.
Accounts vary as to the actual time the printers completed the press run. Caulfield states that it was completed by mid-afternoon on Easter Sunday and another source claims that it was finished at approximately one o'clock on the morning of Easter Monday. According to Caulfield's account, Constance, Countess Markievicz, who was a commander in the Citizen Army and a friend of the poet W. B. Yeats, grabbed a copy off the press "while the ink was still wet upon it and, from the front steps read it out to the small crowd gathered there, with characteristic hauteur disregarding the detectives who mingled among them" (Caulfield, p. 44). One of the most fascinating aspects of the present document is that it exhibits multiple folds measuring 3 by 5 inches and a good deal of faint ink offsetting of the type. This would indicate that this particular broadside was folded before being completely dry to be compact enough to be secreted into a pocket. Therefore, it is most plausible this was accomplished by one of those present during the press run.
Distribution of the broadside was the responsibility of Helena Moloney, but since a state of siege prevailed from Easter Monday on, it is probable that few copies left central Dublin. It can be imagined that many of the broadsides were destroyed or torn down during the violent events of Easter week 1916 and the document passed into history as a moving symbol of those terrible days. Such was its iconic importance that it was reprinted soon after and efforts were made to produce a replica incorporating the typographical idiosyncracies of the original. In 1935 Joseph Bouch attempted to collect bibliographical evidence to ascertain the original printing. He established six main points which characterize the first issue: size and quality of paper; the styles of typography; measurement of the length of line; differences in spelling and typographical idiosyncracies. The present exemplar corresponds in every respect to Bouch's criteria.
When the Rising collapsed less than a week later, all seven of its instigators and signers of the Proclamation—Pearse, Thomas J. Clarke, Sean Mac Diamarda, Thomas MacDonagh, Eamonn Ceannt, James Connolly ,and Joseph Plunkett—were executed by the British. Too weak to stand because of wounds sustained in the fighting, James Connolly was executed seated in a chair. Their insurgency had been viewed by the British as treason in wartime (i.e., the First World War). British political leaders regarded the executions initially as imprudent, later as a catastrophe, with British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith and later Prime Minister David Lloyd George stating their regret at allowing the British military to treat the rising as a matter of military law in wartime, rather than insisting that the leaders were treated under civilian criminal law.