O’MALLEY, Ernie. On Another Man’s Wound (Limited to 51 Copies Only. Extremely Rare Signed Limited Edition)

Dublin: Printed by Colm O Lochlainn at the Sign of the Three Candles for Rich & Cowan, London, 1936. Demy octavo. First edition. Quarter vellum parchment on green buckram boards, titled in gilt. Special edition limited to 51 copies, signed and numbered by Ernie O’Malley [No. 48]. Vellum with usual mild staining. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Modern slipcase. A very good copy. Top edge gilt. Extremely rare limited edition.

The title is taken from the Gaelic proverb “It is easy to sleep on another man’s wound.” Written in autobiographical form it provides an insight of life in Ireland from 1916 to 1920. It is stark, truthful and dispassionate in its statement of facts. It tells of shootings and reprisals, jailings and escapes; and introduces well-known figures of the day including De Valera, Michael Collins, Count Plunkett and Countess Markievicz.
“Many things have been written round the war between the English forces and the Irish Republican Army, the best of them being, I think, On Another Man’s Wound” - Sean O’Casey.
Ernie O’Malley’s celebrated memoir of the War of Independence is widely regarded as the finest literary account of Ireland’s revolutionary struggle. Written in a lyrical, modernist style, the book describes his transformation from Dublin medical student to senior IRA officer, operating across rural Ireland. He evokes with striking detail the realities of guerrilla warfare: the hunger and exhaustion of Volunteers, the fear of betrayal, the silence before an ambush, and the tension of life on the run.
The title, taken from an old Irish proverb, reflects O’Malley’s recognition that no reader can fully inhabit another man’s suffering. While recounting raids, arrests, and ambushes, he avoids romanticising the struggle, instead offering a sombre, poetic meditation on sacrifice, comradeship, and alienation. Praised on publication by Frank O’Connor and Seán Ó Faoláin, On Another Man’s Wound quickly established itself as a landmark both in Irish history and literature. More than a soldier’s memoir, it is a haunting work of art that remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Irish Revolution. This highly desirable limited edition of O’Malley’s classic memoir of the Irish War of Independence was produced in an edition limited to just fifty-one copies, each signed by the author. The limitation reflects both the publisher’s caution and the book’s intended status as a work of literary, as well as historical, significance. It stands at the pinnacle of Irish revolutionary literature in terms of both literary merit and bibliographic significance.

[CAT 164]