CROWE, E.E. To-Day in Ireland.

[CROWE, E.E.] To-Day in Ireland. Three volumes. London: Printed for Charles Knight, 1825. First edition. pp. (1) [ii], 291, (2) [ii], 319, (3) [ii], 305. Bound in contemporary half calf on marbled boards, title and volume number in gilt on double maroon morocco labels on elaborate gilt decorated spine. With the armorial bookplates of Richard Brinsley Sheridan on front pastedowns. All edges sprinkled. A fine set. Very rare.  Although born in England, Eyre Evans Crowe (1799-1868), was of Irish origin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. A distinguished historian and journalist he first published several of his Irish novels in Blackwood.

This work contains four stories: 'The Carders' is set at Rathfinnan on Lough Ree, not far from Athlone. It paints a very dark picture not only of the peasants and their secret societies but also of the Ascendancy class; 'Connemara' a burlesque tale of how M'Laughlin, a sort of King of Connemara, escapes his debtors in a coffin. There are some smuggling adventures and also a description of the fair of Ballinasloe; 'Old and New Light' a satirical study of Protestant religious life at Ardenmore, County Louth; 'The Toole's Warning' is set in the picturesque part of Ireland, the county of Wicklow, during the Cromwellian period. A young married gentleman decides to purchase a property (Clonmorth) near to Lough Dan from a gentleman of the Toole clan. The house turns out to be haunted and one of the rooms had not been opened for over twenty years.