ROBINSON, George, Marquis of Ripon Proceedings in Connection with the Visit to Dublin of the Marquis of Ripon, K.G. and the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P. 1st to 3rd February, 1888.

“THE FRIENDSHIP OF TWO PEOPLES IS THE SAFETY OF BOTH”

Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1888. First edition. Octavo. pp. viii, 152. Contemporary full dark green morocco over bevelled boards, covers framed by a single gilt fillet with rosette cornerpieces, upper cover centred with the gilt badge of the Ripon & Morley Reception Committee, incorporating the crowned Harp of Erin within a circular strap inscribed “Ripon & Morley Reception Committee” and dated 1888; elaborate gilt roll-tooled turn-ins; splash-marbled endpapers; all edges gilt. A very good copy. Rare.

A handsome and important record of one of the most significant political visits to Ireland during the Home Rule era. George Frederick Samuel Robinson, Marquis of Ripon (1827-1909), one of the most distinguished Liberal statesmen of Victorian Britain, and John Morley (1838-1923), future Chief Secretary for Ireland and biographer of Gladstone, visited Dublin in February 1888 at a critical stage in the campaign for Irish Home Rule. Their visit was intended to strengthen political and social ties between Britain and Ireland and to demonstrate Liberal support for constitutional reform.
The volume records the addresses, speeches, resolutions, correspondence, and proceedings connected with the reception and provides a remarkable snapshot of Irish public life in the years following Gladstone’s first Home Rule Bill. Particularly striking is the emphasis placed upon conciliation and cooperation between the two islands, encapsulated in the sentiment: “The friendship of two peoples is the safety of both.”
Of exceptional historical value are the extensive lists of those associated with the reception. A twenty-three-page double-column register records the members of the Reception Committee and includes a remarkable cross-section of late nineteenth-century Irish political, religious, commercial, and professional life. Among those represented are Tim Harrington, T. D. Sullivan, William O’Brien, together with numerous clergy, journalists, businessmen, and civic leaders. The volume further contains a substantial list of subscribers to the Reception Fund, numbering almost nine hundred individuals, making it an important source for the study of Irish political networks and public opinion during the Home Rule period.
The elaborate binding appears to have been specially commissioned for the occasion and was almost certainly intended for presentation to a committee member, subscriber, or distinguished participant. JISC records only six institutional copies. Rare, and particularly desirable in this distinctive contemporary presentation binding.

[CAT 164]