Beschreibung:

Lot 1219/0217 ORIGINAL PRINTING OF THE ‘CASTLE DOCUMENT’ A copy of what appears to be the original printing of the so-called ‘Castle Document’, printed on Wednesday of Holy Week 1916 (the week before the Easter Rising) by George Plunkett (brother of Joseph Mary) and Colm O Lochlainn on a hand-press at the Plunkett farm at Larkfield near Kimmage. Single sheet, printed recto only, 9 5/16 x 7 3/16 ins (237 x 182 mm), commencing ”The cipher from which this document is copied does not indicate punctuation or capitals. / ‘the following precautionary measures ..” The document has no title. After the opening line the text is set entirely in lower case, without punctuation apart from two rows of dots (to indicate a break). On rear is a pencilled inscription, with corrections, in what is reported to be that of Thomas Ashe: ‘The following / Official Document which / has reached / us in / cipher needs no comment. The “precautions” / taken in ’98 were simplicity / itself compared to them.’ This document purports to contain plans for a pre-emptive round-up of Volunteer leaders and sympathisers by the British authorities, supposedly obtained in cipher by Joseph Mary Plunkett (Director of Intelligence for the Volunteers) from a source in Dublin Castle, decoded by him and given to the printers who set up the type in Larkfield. Copies of the printed document were shown to Eoin MacNeill and others, to persuade them that there was no alternative to proceeding with a Rising. In MacNeill’s case it was initially successful, though he changed his mind a few days later after the failure of Casement’s arms landing. By keeping MacNeill on board until the weekend, the document may have influenced the course of Irish history. It certainly added to the confusion and tension in the days before the Rising. There has been controversy about its authenticity, and MacNeill later believed it was a fake, but a recent assessment by Professor Charles Townshend concludes that it was based on a genuine British plan, though perhaps ‘spiced up’ by Plunkett to give it greater immediacy. The British authorities denied that any such plan existed, and tried to suppress the document; but it was read out at a meeting of Dublin Corporation, and published in ‘New Ireland’ on the Saturday before the Rising. A leaflet was distributed in Dublin titled ‘Secret Orders Issued to Military Officers’, with similar text in a different type-setting, dimensions 195 x 125 mms. A few copies of this leaflet have come to light (there are two in TCD), but this is the only copy we can trace of what must be the original Larkfield printing. None is recorded by COPAC, and this may be a unique surviving copy. The hand-press at Larkfield was originally owned by Thomas MacDonagh. He passed it on to Joseph Mary Plunkett, who added to it and used it to print his ‘Sonnets to Columba’ and some other items. See Colm O Lochlainn’s article in Irish Book Lover, March 1954; Prof. Charles Townshend, History Ireland vol. 14 no. 2; Eoin MacNeill, Memorandum II (MacNeill papers, UCD). (1) * This is the only example extant, probably unique. Provenance: The Ashe Family to the Present Vendor.