Book lovers in Dublin and beyond will be excited about the return of the second-hand books sale in Trinity College Dublin. Introduced in 1990 but not held since February 2020 – just before the Covid pandemic – the book sale goes ahead on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week in the Exam Hall in Front Square of the historic campus.
“It’s a big effort to bring it back but people love it. There will be a wide choice of reasonably priced books, including foreign language books and academic books,” says Paul Ferguson, Trinity librarian and member of the Trinity second-hand book sale committee.
Ferguson says that among the thousands of second-hand books donated for this much-loved college fundraiser, there will also be a good selection of Irish studies and Irish history books as well as early 20th-century material.
The three-day long event begins with an auction of rare books at 5.30pm on Tuesday, February 11th. The highlights ofmore than 80 rare books on history, travel and children’s and adult literature, according to Ferguson are the much sought-after Vanishing Dublin by Flora Mitchell (1966) and the three volumes of Peter Harbison’s The High Crosses of Ireland (1992), which is the definitive work on the subject. Viewing for the Rare Books Sale begins at noon and admission to the auction itself is €3.
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The Trinity Book Sale continues on Wednesday from 10am-6pm, with many books on music, craft and fiction from the library of Sandy Harsch (1942-2018), who presented Country Time on RTÉ Radio One for 20 years. All books will be for sale at half-price on Thursday from 10am-2pm. Admission is free on Wednesday and Thursday.
Proceeds from these book sales go towards the purchase of research materials for college libraries, and the sale is run by volunteers. Books purchased from the funds include the personal library of Dean Jonathan Swift, 18th-century French political pamphlets, a set of 1864 maps of Dublin, as well as modern scientific texts not otherwise available to the libraries at Trinity College.
Also on the literary front, De Búrca Rare Books have about 400 books in the Irish language in their latest catalogue. The latest collection includes rare literary works and dictionaries, as well as the Great Books of Ireland – Kells, Durrow and Lindisfarne.
The three volumes of the Book of Kells – a manuscript copy of the four Christian gospels in Latin written in the Celtic style, which was formerly in the library of the Jesuit community at Milltown Park in Dublin, was published in Berne, Switzerland in 1950 (€4,500).
The Book of Lindisfarne, also published in Switzerland in the 1950s, is a rare two-volume set from a limited edition (€3,750). Older than the Books of Kells, which is housed in Trinity College Dublin, these illuminated manuscripts of the four gospels in Latin were created in the 8th century. The originals can be viewed in the British Library in London.
Staying with an ecclesiastical theme, the contents of the Bishop’s House in Newry, Co Down, will go under the hammer of Victor Mee on February 12th and 13th from 6pm at the Mourne Country Hotel in Newry.
“Though the Diocese of Dromore has been shaded by controversy in recent years, the magnificent contents of the Bishop’s House remain unblemished and utterly stunning,” says Victor Mee. The Bishop’s House itself was sold to help fund the redress scheme for victims of sexual abuse over 35 years in the Diocese of Dromore.
Highlights of the auction include a William IV console table with an Italian marble top (€4,000-€8,000); a gilt Regency mirror by Richard Jackson from the 18th century Dublin glass maker family (€2,000-€4,000); and a hand cut limestone sundial with its original slate dial (€1,500-€3,000). There is also a vast collection of china (including various editions of Belleek china from Co Fermanagh) and silver cutlery among the 1,100 lots.
Finally, fans of the Canadian singer/songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen will be interested in an auction of vintage photographs, signed books and other memorabilia at Julien’s auction rooms in Los Angeles on February 28th. Many of the items in the auction – including stunning black and white photographs of Cohen with Marianne Ihlen on the Greek Island of Hydra – are from the collection of Aviva Layton, who became close friends with Cohen through her former husband, the poet Irving Layton.
Also for sale are letters between Cohen and his publishers at Viking Press, which will provide insights into his creative process and lifestyle for any future biographers. The collection of a former girlfriend and singer, Anjani Thomas, includes what is believed to be Cohen’s only private notebook outside of the Cohen Family Trust archives. The auction marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Hallelujah, the Leonard Cohen song which continues to inspire musicians and music-lovers across the globe.
tcd.ie/sustainability/initiatives/secondhand-book-sale/
What did it sell for?
Portrait of Henry Angelo, Nathaniel the Elder Hone
Hammer price $9,600 (€9,351)
Auction house Bonham’s Los Angeles
Approaching Dawn, River Clyde, Arthur K Maderson
Estimate €3,000-€5,000
Hammer price €4,600
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll
Winters Welcome, Mark O’Neill
Estimate €1,750-€2,500
Hammer price €2,000
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll
1997 Bentley R Turbo
Estimate €8,000-€12,000
Hammer price €26,000
Auction house Aidan Foley
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