Copy of the Irish Republican newspaper 'Sinn Féin', from the papers of Robert Lynd, and with the main article on the front page ('Idealism in Irish Politics') written by him under the signature 'Riobard ua Floinn'

Author: 
Riobard ua Floinn [Robert Lynd] (1979-1949), Irish essayist [Sinn Féin]
Publication details: 
'Printed for the SINN FEIN Printing and Publishing Company, Limited, by An Clo-Cumann, Teo., 68-71 Great Strand Street, in the City of Dublin, and Published at the Office, 17 Fownes Street'. 6 February 1909.
£250.00
SKU: 25594

4pp., folio. Broadsheet bifolium. On aged high-acidity paper, folded once vertically, and once horizontally, and with wear along the fold lines and crease. Lynd's article is the main one on the front page, covering 80 and a half column inches across all seven columns. The article begins: 'Among the many conflicting views which the English have of the Irish character, two are, perhaps, more popular than the rest. One - the sturdy Saxon view - is that we are a gay and generous people, the drink-dispensers of the world, amiable buffoons, a race of eloquent and lying beggars. The other - which I may call the sentimental - view, is that we are a nation of idealists persistently at war with the despotism of fact, that we are quick with ideas and inspired with noble dreams, that always we are ready to go forth to battle even though we always fail.' From Robert Lynd's Papers.