WHYTES
SINCE 1783
,
29
183
April 1916 The Castle Document
Secret Orders Issued to Military Officers, known as ‘’The Castle Document’’, April 1916 ‘’The
following precautionary measures have been sanctioned by the Irish Office on the
recommendation of the General Officer Commanding the Forces in Ireland ... .’’ - As
circulated by P.J. Little, ed. New Ireland office 13 Fleet Street, Dublin, 15 April, 1916. The
famous forged document, produced by Joseph Plunkett to convince Eoin MacNeill to issue
the orders necessary to proceed with the rising. MacNeill’s subsequent discovery of the ruse
led to his countermanding the orders and the postponement of the rising. A rare and
important document. 7¾ x 5in. (19.69 x 12.70cm)
€
500-
€
700 (£400-£560 approx)
184
1916. Proclamation of The Irish Republic.
The final two paragraphs of Ireland’s most important document of the 20th Century,
including the signatories. Printed by letterpress on poor quality paper of a greyish white
shade. The printed area is 11.75 x 18ins. Framed.
An exceedingly rare half sheet of the 1916 Proclamation. The proclamation was printed in two parts due
to lack of type according to John O’Connor in The Story Of The 1916 Proclamation. The top half was
printed first and then the type was reset to print the bottom half. The British soldiers who captured
Liberty Hall from the Citizen Army found the lower half frame of type still in the Wharfedale printing
press and ran off a small number of copies as souvenirs. O’Connor, q.v., says “[these halfsheets] are very
rare but one such copy is in Kilmainham Jail Museum”. According to Joseph Bouch, (The Republican
Proclamation of Easter Monday, 1916 Dublin, 1936) these half sheets were printed on two different
coloured papers. Less than twenty examples of these half sheets are recorded, making it even rarer than
the full sheet document.
€
5,000-
€
7,000 (£4,000-£5,600 approx)
185
No lot
184
183