GOLDSMITH, Oliver. An Baile Beag Tréigthe: The Deserted Village. SIGNED BY THE TRANSLATOR AND ÉAMON DE VALER

Translated by Frionsias O’Súileabháin. Illustrated with woodcuts. Baile Atha Cliath, Comhartha na dTrí gCoinneal, n.d. (c.1941) 180 x 125mm., pp. [ii], 21. Pictorial stitched wrappers. Inscribed and signed by Éamon de Valera to Maurice Moynihan; also signed by the translator, Frionsias O’Súileabháin. Some mild staining to upper cover. A very good copy.  A remarkably well-sustained verse translation into racy Western Irish, with a few authentic illustrations from old woodcuts of scenes in the Goldsmith country. Maurice Gerard Moynihan, (1902-1999) was an Irish economist and civil servant who served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland from 1960 to 1969. He was also a co-drafter of the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, Secretary of the Government of the Irish Free State in 1937 and Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great. Prof Patrick Lynch described him as a 'most independent civil servant, respected by politicians and civil servants alike';. He was a 'most distinguished civil servant';, serving both Fianna Fail and interparty coalition governments and becoming governor of the Central Bank at a very difficult time. He was Private Secretary to the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera in 1932.