Lot 181

[Ireland] - Downey, Edmund, 1856-1937, Irish novelist and publisher

£480

Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs

Auction: 19 June 2018 at 12:00 BST

Description

Manuscript of an unpublished novel set in Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century. Folio. Approximately 524 pages, 65,000 words. N.D. [c.1890]; Downey, Edmund Notes for an Irish Biographical Dictionary. Two exercise books kept in pencil and ink. Approximately 70 pages in total. c.1910

Footnote

Provenance: Edmund Downey archive
Note: Edmund Downey was born in Waterford. In 1878 he moved to London where he began work with the publishers Tinsley Brothers. In 1883 he formed his own publishers, Ward and Downey, specialising in three-deckers for the library market. He retired in 1890 to Waterford, where he founded a new firm Downey and Co. He wrote fiction under the pseudonym F.M. Allen, mainly with Irish settings, which had some success. In 1905, Downey edited Charles Lever: His Life in His Letters (William Blackwood).

Untitled, this is a substantial anonymous manuscript of a novel, 38 chapters in length. The main part of the manuscript is in an unidentified hand. However, it has been heavily corrected and amended by Edmund Downey with certain original passages towards the end also in his hand. From a reading of the manuscript it comes across as a literate production of a professional author. The story opens in Sligo with young men hare coursing on Carrowkeel in the Bricklieve Mountains. The main plot involves a love story concerning Louis Beauchamp of the Sligo Yeomanry. Later parts include scenes set at the Curragh, the appearance of the "fascinating siren Mollie Baldwin", and the curse of mortgaged estates. At one point the manuscript has been paginated in pencil (with the exception of extra four pages). Several leaves appear to be missing, but in some cases the sense continues and it seems likely that the text of those intervening leaves was deleted and discarded in the correction stage. There are occasional marginal tears and some soiling and browning. Some damp-staining in one place has partially fused two leaves, causing some losses, but it remains (just) legible bar a few words. The novel may have been destined for the three-decker market.