Beschreibung:

Estimate: €150,000 - €250,000
Result: Not Sold
Size: 4 x 2½in. (10.16 x 6.35cm) Condition: Loss of cloth to covers (see image), otherwise very good. Provenance: Pádraig Pearse; Margaret Pearse (Pádraig Pearse's mother) Gifted by Margaret Pearse to Micheál Mac Ruaidri; Thence to his daughter, Bríd; By whom gifted to the family of the present owner A bluecloth covered card 2.5 inches by 4 inches opened out. Inscribed in Pearse's own hand in indelible pencil: Pádraic Mac Piarais Sgoil Éanna. Numbered 100 in indelible pencil. Datestamped as follows with pencil initials: Date stamped as follows wi...Read more A bluecloth covered card 2.5 inches by 4 inches opened out. Inscribed in Pearse's own hand in indelible pencil: Pádraic Mac Piarais Sgoil Éanna. Numbered 100 in indelible pencil. Datestamped as follows with pencil initials: Date stamped as follows with pencil initials: 9 DEC 1913 6 'Nám óm' DEC 30 1913 6. S. Ó 'C. (Seamus O'Connor) JAN 6 1914 3 S. Ó 'C. (Seamus O'Connor) JAN 13 1914 3. P Mac P (Pádraig Pearse in his hand) JAN 20 1914 3. E. M. (Eamon Martin) JAN 27 1914 3. P Mac P (Pádraig Pearse in his hand) Inscribed by former owner Micheál Mac Ruadhrí with his name. Micheál Mac Ruaidhrí Dubbed 'the greatest seanchaí (storyteller/historian) of our time' by the scholar and patriot Eoin MacNeill, and known to Professor Douglas Hyde, Ireland's first President, as 'The Mayo Poet' because of the musical quality of his Irish, this mentor and confidante to the executed 1916 leader Patrick Pearse, was born in Lower Foghill, near historic Kilcummin, in County Mayo, in 1860. His parents were Seoirse (George) MacRuaidhri (Rogers) and Nancy Cooper. Mac Ruaidhri suffered all his life from poor eyesight and bad vision. As a result, he spent just two days in school, preferring instead to occupy his days with the elders of his area. In the process he amassed and retained a vast knowledge of folklore, sagas, history, song and music, all of which he dearly loved, whilst also gaining a genuine love for and understanding of the soil. As a young man Micheál went to Dublin and worked as a gardener at Stradbrook Estate, Blackrock, before striking up a relationship with the revolutionary and educationalist Patrick Pearse. From the foundation in 1908 of Pearse's Cullenswood School in Ranelagh, Dublin, Micheaál taught practical gardening and horticulture and in 1910, he, together with his bride, the former Alice Wallace, relocated with Pearse to the Hermitage in Rathfarnham, the site of the future and much celebrated Scoil Eanna -'St. Endas.' The Hermitage was to be the site of a new school for boys based on the ancient Irish custom of fosterage, while Cullenswood became a girls school which Pearse named Scoil Íde . Mac Ruaidhri took up residence in the Gate Lodge which was afterwards referred to as 'St Enda's Lodge'. St. Enda's influence on the 1916 Rising is evident by the list of those participants who taught at or attended the school. In addition to Mac Ruaidhri and his assistant Patrick Donnelly and the patriot Pearse brothers, Patrick and Willie, other revolutionaries such as Thomas MacDonagh, Eamon Ceannt, Con Colbert and Fergus de Burca also taught there, as did the writers Padraic Colum and Standish O Grady. Desmond Ryan who fought in the GPO and and Joseph Sweeney who was a sniper on the roof of the GPO were among the sixteen St. Enda's pupils who participated in the 1916 Rising. It is known that not only was Mac Ruaidhri a great friend to Pearse, but he also had a huge influence on him and was in truth a sort of father figure to him. He is credited with being the individual who advised Pearse to spend time in Rosmuc Connemara (Mac Ruaidhri was also a great friend of Eamon De Valera and his family). Despite his near blindness, Micheál was the well-known author of five books in the Irish language all of which he wrote under the pseudonym Méarthóg Ghuill and dictated to his daughter Bríd, to Mrs. De Valera and also to Pádraig Pearse. Furthermore, Micheál was a regular contributor to Pearse