Beschreibung:

Pearse (P.H.) B.A., Barrister-At-Law. The Fianna of Fionn. An original manuscript essay of 21 numbered pages, 8vo, in Pearse’s hand throughout, with numerous corrections and crossings-out, evidently his corrected first draft. Undated, but evidently written circa 1913 – 14, around the time of the founding of the Irish Volunteers, and possibly intended for inclusion in some publication relating to the Fianna or the Volunteers. It opens, ‘The Fianna of to-day are the third heroic companionship that has borne that famous name. The first Fianna, the Fianna of Fionn, have been dead for nearly two thousand years; a few grey-haired men, the veterans of the second Fianna, are with us still, and any boy who has seen and spoken to one of these will carry a great memory with him through life, for there have never been nobler or braver men in Ireland than they… The lads of the third Fianna, the familiar green-shirted bare-kneed young soldiers who have prepared the way for our Irish Volunteers, inherit the gallant name and tradition of the ancient Fianna and the mighty purpose of the modern Fenians. Were ever boys heirs to as great an inheritance? And continuing with a retelling of the story of Fionn and the Fianna from Irish mythology. With signature on final page. A little foxing, otherwise in excellent condition. To the best of our knowledge, unpublished and unrecorded. Ofthe first importance. Provenance: From the collection of a distinguished scholar of Pearse’s work. (1)