Fitzgerald, Thos. W. H. Ireland and Her People : A Library of Irish Biography (5 volume set) Together with a Popular History of Ancient and Modern Erin, to which is added an Appendix of copious Notes and Useful Tables. Chicago: Fitzgerald Book Company, 1909. First Edition. [11576]
Five volumes in publisher's green buckram, spines decorated in gilt & green, boards unadorned, 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. The bindings have some light soil and spotting, yet with good joints and no damage. Publisher's advert laid in at the front of vol. I. "Illustrated with Full-Page Steel and Photogravure Plates." 430 pages in each volume. End paper hinges of vol. i. wobbly; binding of vol. iii. with ink or other dark smudges (binding only - see photo - only one binding has these blemishes). NOT ex library - no library matter. Good. Hardcover.
Title continues: Supplemented with A Dictionary of Proper Names in Irish Mythology, Geography, Genealogy, etc., Embracing a Period of Forty Centuries of Legend, Tradition and History; with numerous Illustrations.
"That the Irish people need a reliable record of the enterprise and achievements of the race in every field of thought and action will, we believe, be readily conceded. Throughout this work the aim has been to eliminate all political, racial, class, and narrow sectarianism...These volumes contain all the lives of the great men and famous women who were born in the Island of Saints and Scholars...This is, we believe, the only serious attempt to bring out the complete storehouse of general Irish biography, together with a popular history of Erin, from the earliest times down to our day. Much of the data found in these pages were prepared especially for this work and can not be found elsewhere, rendering it as a book of reference of uncommon value." - Publisher's advert.
