EDWARDS, Ruth Dudley. Patrick Pearse. The Triumph of Failure. [First Edition]

London: Victor Gollancz, 1977. First edition. pp. xv, [3], 384. Brown papered boards, title in gilt on spine. A fine copy in pictorial dust jacket.

"There has always been argument about whether Pearse's leadership of the Easter Rising in 1916 represented a failure or a triumph. Ireland certainly thrives on her martyrs and Pearse, who found himself on Easter Monday proclaimed President of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the army of the Republic, took on himself the most bitter of roles at the finish: he was the first to make the move to surrender - and he was the first to be executed.
Pearse has an extraordinary reputation in Ireland today (although ironically his father was an Englishman): he is seen popularly as a romantic poet and playwright, educational theorist and political thinker, socialist, nationalist and military leader." 1977 EDWARDS, Ruth Dudley.