SULLIVAN, Sir Edward: Brother Bookbinder (Sir Edward Sullivan, Bart.).

Coloured frontispiece of an elaborately inlaid and gilded binding by Sullivan, specially bound for Queen Victoria. [Privately Printed]. Opusculum LXXXVII, February 1929. Imprinted for [Brother Ivor Stewart-Liberty], by Alabaster, Passmore & Sons, Ltd. 64 Cannon Street, E.C.4., and to be had of no Bokesellers, 1929. Post octavo. pp. v, 75. Text within decorative border. Original stiff green wrappers printed in gilt. Edition limited to 101 copies. Pages untrimmed. This copy is un-numbered. A fine copy.

Sir Edward Sullivan, 2nd. Bart. (1852-1928) succeeded his father as second baronet in 1885. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he was called to the Irish Bar in 1879 and to the English Bar in 1888. He is best known for his monograph on the Book of Kells; which long remained the standard authority. He was a trustee of the National Library of Ireland and president of the Sette of Odd Volumes in London. His most important legacy, however, is his volume of rubbings and photographs of the magnificent 18th century bookbindings of the Manuscript Journals of both Houses of the Irish Parliament which were destroyed with the shelling of the Four Courts in 1922. These form the sole record of the lavishly bound Parliamentary bindings. Sullivan was not a binder, he was 'finisher' and signed himself `Aurifex', meaning worker in gold.

[L3 Arch B]