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1915 (1 August). Diarmuid Ó Donnabáin Rosa, 1831-1915. Souvenir Booklet””
Souvenir of Public Funeral of O’Donovan Rossa to Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, August 1st, 1915. Second Edition,
complete account, fully illustrated. With commemorative essays and poems by P.H. Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh, Arthur
Griffith, James Connolly and others. pp.40
11_ x 8_in. (28.58 x 22.23cm)
Estimate €80-€120 £60-£90
Large Image & Place Bid 175176
1915 Oration of Pearse over Rossa’s Grave.
A contemporaneous handbill, published by Fergus O’Connor, Dublin, reproducing Pearse’s landmark oration of 1 August
1915. A fine copy of this fragile and historically important piece of Irish Nationalist ephemera.
Jeremiah O’ Donovan Rossa was one of the founders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He spent a number of terms
in prison before being exiled to America, from where he continued to direct Fenian activities. His death in 1915 gave the
IRB a propaganda opportunity by bringing his body back to Ireland for a large public funeral in Glasnevin cemetery. This
oration delivered at the graveside by Patrick Pearse is considered to be a masterpiece of patriotic rhetoric”, containing as
it does the iconic ending “-- but the fools, the fools, the fools! They have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds
these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” It has been argued that this funeral, with its prominent involvement
of the Irish Volunteers, starts the countdown to the Rebellion of 1916, when again Pearse makes a defining oration, read-
ing the Proclamation of the Irish Republic from outside the GPO in Sackville Street.
“
7_ x 10in. (18.42 x 25.40cm)”
Estimate €250-€350 £180-£260
Large Image & Place Bid 176