This black and white drawing by Jack B Yeats is one of 12 produced by the artist for Synge's The Aran Islands, a copy of which features in the latest catalogue issued by antiquarian book dealers P & B Rowan. A first edition of the work is being offered with the same author's In Wicklow, West Kerry and Connemara, again, a first edition and illustrated by Yeats; each in a custom-made folding case and then placed in a shared slipcase, the two are valued at £6,500 sterling. Another equally valuable book is a copy of Louisa, Lady Tenison's Sketches in the East. A daughter of the first Earl of Lichfield, she was the wife of Edward King Tenison of Kilronan Castle, Co Roscommon.
Copies of this work seemingly appear for sale with great infrequency; only two have been offered at auction for almost a century. That featured by Rowan's appears to have come from a since-demolished Irish house, Drumbanagher Castle near Newry and carries the price of £8,500.
Just as rare, if rather less expensive, is a copy of Thomas McDonagh's first book of poems, Through the Ivory Gate, published in 1902 and dedicated to W B Yeats. This example, priced at £1,600, is inscribed by the author. Earlier in date is Maria Edgeworth's six-volume Tales of Fashionable Life, published in two sets of three in 1809 and 1812 (£450).
To get the new Rowan's catalogue, telephone 048 90 666448.