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Guide to the James A. Healy Collection of Irish literature,
1870-1976
Special Collections M0273
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Title: James A. Healy Collection of Irish literature,
Date (inclusive): 1870-1976
Collection number: Special Collections M0273
Creator:
Healy, James A. (James Augustine), d.1975.
Extent:
8 linear ft.
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Language:
English.
None.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
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 University
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which brought him AE's letters to those recipients and some of his unpublished lectures.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 insignificant 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 16 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 the Stanford exhibition in 1976.
Photographs are listed here, but are maintained in a separate departmental Photograph File.
Only the most important material from the substantial Vertical File of miscellaneous clippings has been catalogued.
A Cross-Reference Listing, of significant figures written to or about, is also provided.
PART TWO
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.
Scope and Content Note