Adam's Works on Paper Art & Literature 12th March 2019

The Collection of Prof. Eoin O’Brien Eoin O’Brien is a cardiologist and professor at the Conway Institute, University College Dublin, where he has led international scientific research into high blood pressure. Recognised as a world authority on this illness he has published over 900 scientific papers and written a number of books on hypertension. He is a fellow of both the Royal Colleges of Physicians of London and Edinburgh and having a keen interest in humanitarian affairs, he serves in an administrative capacity on a number of international bodies, including the World Health Organisation, to combat disease in countries with low resources. O’Brien’s interest in the field has led him to study and write extensively on the history of medicine, his best known books being Conscience and Conflict: A Biography of Sir Dominic Corrigan , and A Portrait of Irish Medicine; An Illustrated History of Medicine in Ireland , co-authored by Anne Crookshank and Sir Gordon Wolstenholme. He has also edited historical books on three of Dublin’s hospitals which were closed in recent years - The Richmond Hospital, The Charitable Infirmary in Jervis Street and the City of Dublin Skin & Cancer Hospital on Hume Street. These books contain a photographic record of the voluntary hospital movement that served the city of Dublin for over three centuries. Apart from his medical and scientific interests, O’Brien has written books on Dublin writers and artists, including A. J Leventhal and the artist Nevill Johnson, the latter of which he co-authored with Dickon Hall, Nevill Johnson 1911 – 1999 : Paint the smell of grass . Perhaps O’Brien’s most acclaimed work is a biographical study on Samuel Beckett, a close friend for many years, entitled The Beckett Country: Samuel Beckett’s Ireland . This book, which illustrates the relevance of place in Beckett’s oeuvre, contains poignant photography of Beckett’s time in Dublin and the inspiration the city and its environs provided for much of his work. Beckett asked O’Brien to posthumously publish his first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women , which was published by the Black Cat Press in 1992. These literary and historical pursuits demanded considerable research, which in the pre-internet days would have necessitated long hours in libraries. O’Brien’s occupation as a busy cardiologist did not permit this and instead he acquired the books he need- ed. This attention to detail is refleted in the focused and thoughtful character of his collection. This extensive library consisting of Irish historical, topographical and literary works (most notably Beckett) as well as European literature and the history of medicine, is now being auctioned. Many of the books have author’s dedications to O’Brien and some contain notes and letters to him, high- lighting the personal relationships developed over years of collecting.