ADAM'S - THE HISTORY SALE - APRIL 26TH 2017 (Click Lot title for more images and to Place Bid)

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The History Sale
Report ofThe Proceedings at the first sitting of the Special Commission for
the County and City of Dublin, Held at Green-Street, Dublin, for theTrial of
Thomas Clark Luby, and Others, forTreason-Felony, “the Fenian Conspiracy,”
Dublin:Thom, 1866. First Edition, royal 8vo, cloth
The trial commenced on Nov. 27th 1865.The others charged were John
O’Leary, Michael Moore, John Halligan & Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa. Luby
was sentenced to 20 years penal servitude in Kilmainham Gaol.
€ 200 - 300
His Newgate Prison cell lock cover plate.
The rectangular metal plate painted on both sides with white numerals ‘22’, 12.8 x 10.1 cm.
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish nationalist, politician, journalist and 8th Premier ofVictoria. He was arrested in 1846 following an attempt at insurrection inTipperary
and was imprisoned in Richmond Prison on a charge of sedition based on his involvement with‘Young Ireland’ and articles that had appeared inThe Nation, which he
edited and co-founded withThomas Davis and John Blake Dillon. Duffy was first imprisoned in Newgate, which served as a holding facility for prisoners, prior to his
conviction and removal to Richmond prison. He was later released in April 1849. In 1856, disheartened by the political atmosphere in Ireland, he emigrated with his
family to Australia and later became the 8th Premier ofVictoria in 1871.
This unique item bears a typed clipping attached to the rear of the number plate, though not entirely readable, it recounts the return of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy to
NewGate prison prior to its demolition in 1893 wherein he visited his old cell and asked the new owner of the property for the lock so that he might return to Australia
with it.
The transcription of this text is as follows:
Mr.T Byrne… sends us the…
“After the purchase of Newgate Jail… by my father, the late Mr. ____ Byrne b____ 38 and 39 J_____ street. In the course of his taking down the old building, the late
Sir Charles Gavan Duffy called into the jail and asked to be shown the cell he was confined in. On his reaching it, he entered it and requested that the door be closed for
a few minutes. On coming out he expressed a wish to possess the lock of his cell door, ___ anxious to take it with him to Australia; ___ I need not say how __ my father
(also a 48 man)was to hand it to him.
Provenance:Sir Charles Gavan Duffy and thence by family descent
€ 600 - 1,000