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285 50 COPIES ONLY PUBLISHED - ST. ENDA’S COLLEGE.AN SCOLÁIRE, 1913. Desmond Ryan’s set.
An extensive run (probably complete) of this very rare cyclostyled school magazine prepared and published by the pupils of Pearse’s school St. Enda’s, 1913, Vol. 1 number 1-2-3-4, 6-7-8-9 (16.4.13 -
7.6.13), lacking only No. 5 from the first 9 numbers (probably all published). Small quarto, cyclostyled, generally 8 pp or 12 pp (folded sheets), the Roneo plates written in manuscript in several hands, with
some cartoon drawings. With a copy of ‘Le Petit Patriote’, Vol. 1 No. 1, St. Enda’s, 10 May 1913, ‘For the Students of Prep. & Junior Grades Only’, 4 pp (same format, single folded sheet). Judging by the
publication date, this is probably the missing No. 5 of An Scoláire, since it falls between no. 4 (4.5.13) and 6 (17.5.13).
In the last number of Pearse’s printed magazine ‘An Macaomh’ [Vol. II no. 2, May 1913], he states that ‘There exists at St. Enda’s a trilingual newspaper called “An Sgoláire” [sic], of which fifty copies are
printed on a Roneo reduplicator every week and sold at a penny a copy. It is owned and edited by the boys themselves, and owes its existence to a movement which originated among them. The politics
of the paper centres largely round the question as to whether cricket should be played as a summer game by Irish boys. School work and play are chronicled from week to week, and school personalities
discussed and criticised in prose, verse and cartoon. Most of the contributions are in the nature of jeux d’esprit; some are manfully propagandist. A few seem to me touched with that literary grace which
is as recognisable and as indefineable as a personal grace ..’
The first number states that ‘An Scoláire, the students’ paper, is today presented to the Endaian Republic. Its aim & policy are embodied in its name. To make you true scholars, earnest and lively, self
restrained and self reliant, to make you live and laugh, to love each other and dear old Ireland, such is its purpose. God grant it success, may it prove a blessing to all. Read it; write for it; criticise it, make
it both your own in character [and] in outlook. Make the spirit of School Eanna pervade it. Let the glory of Ireland inspire it. In a word: May it be the herald of a glorious day: the day when Ireland will be
“A Nation once again”.’
It is not formally a Pearse item, since the content was clearly determined entirely by the students themselves. Nevertheless, the freshness and variety of the material testifies eloquently to the quality of the
school which Pearse and his fellow-masters had established, and the extent to which its pupils felt themselves jointly responsible for their own education and formation. It is difficult to imagine the students
of any other Irish secondary school, in 1913, producing a magazine of such quality.
Desmond Ryan, who owned this set, was later Pearse’s secretary and fought in the GPO. He edited Pearse’s writings on St. Enda’s, ‘The Story of a Success’, and wrote historical works including biographies
of Pearse and Connolly.
An important item, and a great rarity, generally in very good condition considering its nature. The National Library of Ireland has a run of Nos. 1-9, otherwise only odd copies are found. St. Enda’s itself
apparently does not have a full set.
In a custom made folding box.
Provenance: Family of Muriel Gahan, a gift from a relative of Desmond Ryan, who was a student at St. Enda’s.
€ 2,000 - 3,000