H-R-N [DUNNE, John Joseph] Here and There Memories.

H-R-N [DUNNE, John Joseph] Here and There Memories. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. First edition. pp. xi, 411. Cloth boards in Irish colours; orange, white and green. Small gilt decoration on upper board. A very good copy.

The author is identified by Halkett and Laing (second edition).

John Joseph Dunne was born in Ballybrittas, County Offaly in 1837 to a minor Catholic Gentry family. Educated at Clongowes, Dunne had a varied and interesting career as a soldier, traveller, politician and civil servant. He was also governor of Castlebar Gaol: There are several anecdotes in his 'Here and There Memories' to Mayo: "John Sheridan, the postmaster at Castlebar, inherits a caustic wit from his father, mentioned on other pages. There is a Barrister thereaway whose grandsire was a shoemaker when the postmaster's forebears were county people. The Barrister was flourishing a conspicuous signet ring, and saw that it had caught Sheridan's eye. He pulled it off for inspection. The man of letters examined the crest, read the motto, and restored it with, Semper fidelis ? Just so - true to the last".

In his introduction the author tells us: "I lack courage to publish a truthful autobiography: nor has had anyone else yet had it, though such a record, even of the most humdrum existence, would be priceworthy beyond all books".

He was secretary to Isaac Butt and he dedicated this work to him: "I Dedicate this unworthy trifle in affectionate memory of Isaac Butt; so much forgotten by the people in whom he revived the hope to be loyal, yet free".

John Joseph Dunne is reputed to have been the foremost expert on fishing in Ireland. He wrote under the pseudonym Hi-Regan and published 'How and Where to Fish in Ireland'.