LEDWIDGE, Francis. Songs of the Fields. With introductions by Lord Dunsany.

London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, 1916. Second edition. Demy octavo. pp. 122, 6 (publisher’s list). Olive green cloth, title in gilt on upper cover and spine. Neat library stamp of Frank McEvoy on front free endpaper. Loosely inserted are some newspaper clippings, including a poem by Seamus Heaney ‘In Memoriam Francis Ledwidge.’ A fine copy.
The other newspaper clipping makes interesting reading on the theory of why Francis Ledwidge joined the British Army. Literary historians have said it was because of his great friendship with Lord Dunsany. He joined Dunsany’s own regiment the Royal Enniskilling Dragoons and many other facts point to this. But this theory has been contradicted by the Meath historian, Thomas E. Duffy who statesin the article that it had nothing to do with Lord Dunsany, but to a broken romance “His was a sad, rich story, says Mr. Duffy, which has enriched Ledwidge’s poetry as it has enriched literature and art throughout the ages.”