O’Flaherty, Liam. Insurrection (First edition)

London: Gollancz, 1950. First edition. pp. 254. Green cloth, title in black on spine. A fine copy in very good dustjacket.

Published in 1950, Insurrection by Liam O’Flaherty is one of the most compelling Irish novels to confront the events of the Easter Rising of 1916. Best known for The Informer and Return of the Brute, O’Flaherty brings his raw, unflinching realism to bear on one of Ireland’s most defining historical moments. Drawing on his own experiences and the political turbulence of early twentieth-century Ireland, he captures the human drama and psychological turmoil behind the rebellion with remarkable honesty.

Set amid the chaos of Dublin’s uprising, Insurrection is less a glorification of revolution than an exploration of courage, confusion, and moral uncertainty. O’Flaherty focuses on the ordinary men and women caught between patriotism and survival, revealing the conflicting emotions of those swept up in history. His vivid, cinematic descriptions and dialogue lend the novel a documentary immediacy that makes it both powerful and unsettling.

For collectors of Irish literature and political fiction, Insurrection holds particular significance as one of the few fictionalised first-hand accounts of the Rising written by a participant of that era. At De Búrca Rare Books, this title remains a highly sought-after volume, valued for both its literary merit and its insight into Ireland’s revolutionary past.

L3 7F