Beschreibung:

THE MacMANUS-CARBERY COLLECTION The following lots are from the personal collections of the Donegal-born writer Seumas MacManus [1868-1960], who lived mostly in the United States as an adult, his first wife Anna Johnston, who wrote under the pen-name �Ethna Carbery� (1866-1902), and his brother Padraic (1864-1929), a successful agri-businessman in Argentina and a supporter of Irish Republican causes. The collections have been preserved by family members in Donegal. They include important original correspondence from Padraic Pearse, Arthur Griffith, Major John MacBride and others associated with the Irish Revival; the subscription lists of the rare separatist periodical �The Shan Van Vocht�, which �Ethna Carbery� edited with Alice Milligan, along with a near-complete bound set of this periodical. The Pearse correspondence includes important new information about the funding of Pearse�s school St. Enda�s. It confirms that Pearse�s principal sponsors initially were the MacManus brothers, with one other major supporter; but while Seumas subscribed some �350 from his earnings, a large amount at the time, it appears that Padraic MacManus lost confidence in Pearse�s venture and may not have delivered the �500 he is said to have offered. This left a major shortfall, but Pearse went ahead anyway. The details of Padraic MacManus� involvement are not recorded elsewhere. The collection also includes a printed letter in French from Maud Gonne and W.B. Yeats, seeking support for events organised by the �98 Centenary Association, a group of letters from William Bulfin (another Irishman with Latin American connections), and others from Douglas Hyde Alice Milligan, Tom�s � Concheanainn and Margaret Pearse (sister of Padraic). _____________________ PADRAIC PEARSE and ST. ENDA'S: A LETTER OF 'SINGULAR IMPORTANCE'. An important four-page autograph original letter, signed in Irish and English 'Padraic Mac Piarais (P.H. Pearse)', on Conradh na Gaeilge headed notepaper, dated 4 March 1908, headed 'Private', to the Donegal-born businessman Padraic MacManus (addressed as 'A Chara'), appealing for his financial support for Pearse's project to establish an Irish-language High School in Dublin, later named St. Enda's (initially 'Scoil Lorc�in'). Padraic MacManus (1864-1929) was born near Mountcharles, an elder brother of the writer Seumas MacManus. He had established himself in Argentina as a successful businessman, owning and managing several 'estancia' or farmsteads. He was a generous supporter of Irish Republican causes (see separate letters from Arthur Griffith), and was an active member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). Pearse may have been put in touch with him by Tomas � Concheanainn, a leading Gaelic League organiser who was friendly with both men (see next lot). Pearse's letter is one of three or four which he wrote around this time seeking support for his plans. It is the most detailed of these, and according to Seamus O Buachalla (Editor of Pearse's collected letters, 1980, in which this letter is printed), it is of singular importance, as it sets out both the context of Pearse's ideas, and the basic specifications which he had in mind (including the financial requirements). 'I wonder', Pearse begins, 'whether I can interest you in an important educational project in which, with one or two friends, I am about to embark, provided I can see my way quite clear. It is the project of an Irish High School for boys in Dublin. Your brother Seumas will, I think, join with me and so will Thomas Concannon, Edward Martyn, John Mac Neill, and others .. 'The arguments in favour of the establishment of such a school are irresistible. There is no Irish High School in Ireland. There is no High School for Catholic boys conducted by a layman in Ireland. My idea is to supply this two-fold need. 'There are quite a number of Gaelic Leaguers in Dublin & throughout the country who have brought up their children more or less Irish-speaking, & who are anxiou