YEATS, Jack B. And To You Also [SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY TO A FELLOW ARTIST DERMOD O’BRIEN]

Illustrated with twenty-two pages of drawings by Jack B. Yeats. London: Routledge, 1944. First edition. pp. 148. Quarter black cloth on green paper boards. Signed presentation copy from the author to his fellow artist, Dermod O’Brien. A very good copy in frayed dust jacket.
Dermod O’Brien (1865-1945), was a major figure in the Irish art world. He was President of the Royal Hibernian Academy (Jack B. Yeats was also a member), Governor of the National Gallery, supporting Hugh Lane’s project to secure a premises for a modern art gallery, and playing an active part in organising Oireachtas exhibitions. He designed the Ploughman series of banknotes. He held the office of High Sheriff of County Limerick in 1916 and served as Deputy Lieutenant of County Limerick. O’Brien served in the Artists’ Rifles during the First World War. O’Brien, like Yeats, was deeply affected by the political turmoil in Ireland in the early years of the emerging state. The illustrations are fine examples of Yeats’ late style. Dermod O’Brien was a grandson of William Smith O’Brien