Collection Guide
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Healy (James A.) Collection of Irish literature
M0273
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: James A. Healy Collection of Irish literature
Identifier/Call Number: M0273
Physical Description:
9 Linear Feet
(20 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1870-1976
Language of Material:
English
.
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of James A. Healy, 1975, in memory of his wife, Josephine Healy. Works written by James Brendan Connolly, copyright held
by Miss Brenda E. Connolly.
[Identification of item] James A. Healy Collection of Irish literature, M0273, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
This collection of books, letters, and other manuscripts was amassed by James A. Healy from his early days as a bibliophile
in the thirties until his death in 1975. Its greatest strengths are in the areas in which he had personal contacts: his friendship
with Oliver St. John Gogarty; his extended correspondence with Elizabeth C. Yeats and George Yeats, from whom he obtained
all the Dun Emer and Cuala Press books (a great number of which were inscribed by their authors or by W. B. Yeats); a very
fine selection of Cuala Press greeting cards and prints; and his contacts with Ernest Boyd, Richard Campbell, and Irene Haugh,
which brought him AE's letters to those recipients and some of his unpublished lectures.
The interest of the collection extends further, to figures who were primarily artists rather than writers, such as Paul Henry
and W. B. Yeats' father, brother, and two sisters, and entrepreneurs and actors such as the Fay Brothers and Dudley Digges.
There is a handful of interesting letters from James Joyce, John M. Synge, Maud Gonne, and George Moore. In addition, from
the critic Ernest Boyd's estate Healy obtained letters from Irish writers prompted by Boyd's research for his book,
The Irish Literary Renaissance (1916).
PART ONE
The letters have been arranged alphabetically by writer; within each writer's section they are placed alphabetically by recipient.
Any MSS or printed articles by, or clippings about, each individual immediately follow letters by him or her. The numerous
less significant letters from libraries, publishers, etc. have been arranged alphabetically in folders labelled A, B, C, and
so forth, but are not further itemized. Letters from unknown individuals to significant figures such as AE are, however, itemized
separately, as are a few letters from unknown individuals to Healy which contain interesting references.
At the end of the manuscript section of the collection, Box 18 contains the Dun Emer and Cuala Press printed materials (other
than books and oversize prints); a folder of Elizabeth C. Yeats' letters and enclosed announcements, the gift of Mr. J. Richard
Blanchard; and a copy of the Cuala Press keepsake printed for the opening of a Stanford exhibition in 1976. A Cross-Reference
Listing, of significant figures written to or about, is also provided. Only the most important material from the substantial
Vertical File of miscellaneous clippings has been catalogued.
Photographs are listed here, but are maintained in a separate departmental Photograph File.
PART TWO
All books in the collection have been separated and are cataloged individually.
This covers all the Dun Emer and Cuala Press books and broadsides, with their inscriptions transcribed at length, and the
books of particular interest from other presses more briefly. They are combined in one listing, alphabetized by author. Magazines
and auction catalogues are also itemized briefly.
CORRESPONDENTS
- EAB Ernest A. Boyd
- JC Joseph Campbell
- RC Richard Campbell
- AC Austin Clarke
- EC Eileen Colum
- PC Padraic Colum
- D Lord Dunsany
- OG Oliver St. John Gogarty
- LG Lady Gregory
- IH Irene Haugh
- JAH James A. Healy
- PH Paul Henry
- JJ James Joyce
- EFK Eugene F. Kinkead
- WKM W. K. Magee
- MM Michael Monahan
- GM George Moore
- SO'S Seumas O'Sullivan
- LR Lennox Robinson
- AR Anna Russell
- AE George Russell
[N.B. alphabetized as R]
- GBS George Bernard Shaw
- JS James Stephens
- JMS John M. Synge
- KT Katherine Tynan
- ECY Elizabeth C. Yeats
- GY George Yeats
- Jack BY Jack B. Yeats
- JBY John B. Yeats
- LY Lily Yeats
- MCY Mary Cottenham Yeats
- WBY William B. Yeats
PLACES
- B Boston/Brookline
- D Dublin
- Dm Dundrum, Co. Dublin
- G Greystones, Co. Wicklow
- L London
- NYC New York City
- R Rathfarnham, Dublin
- SF San Francisco
OTHER
- AIHS American-Irish Historical Society
- CP Cuala Press
- DE Dun Emer Press
TECHNICAL TERMS
- AL autograph letter
- ALS autograph letter, signed
- TLS typed letter, signed
- TLc typed letter, carbon of
- APCS autograph postcard, signed
- ANS autograph note, signed
- ADS autograph document, lecture, poem, etc., signed
- TD typed document, etc.
- PD printed document, etc.
- AtelS autograph telegram, signed
- Tmimeo typed mimeograph
- trans. transcript, i.e. typed copy of an original item (often indicates an important item
- Pc photocopy/xerox (only used here when there is no original of the item in the collection)
- () number of additional photocopies, xeroxes, or carbons of original item
- w/a with annotations
- w/cov. with cover
- enc. enclosing/enclosures
- s indicates plural, at end of rubric
EDITORIAL PROCEDURES
Undated letters are placed at the end of any given folder, except when there is strong circumstantial evidence for their
being placed earlier.
Dates in brackets, [], are transcribed from the postmark or an annotation by another reader such as JAH, or deduced from
internal evidence.
The number of pages, not sheets, is given after the dash in each entry. Thus a single sheet, written on both sides, with
two photocopies of it, would be entered as ALS - 2 (2).
Dates are given in the following form: month/day/year (i.e. English-style dating has been changed to American style).
Photocopies of an original that is in the collection are placed at the end of their folder, separated by Perma-life paper.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Irish literature