Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957)

An illustrated letter to Lady Gregory

Details

Jack Butler Yeats, R.H.A. (1871-1957)
An illustrated letter to Lady Gregory
signed and inscribed 'Dear Lady Gregory/We arrived here safely/after a pleasant journey/We enjoyed the time in/Galway Town very much/the salmon were there living/up to their reputations but/the herring and mackerel/fry in the docks and all/about the dock head were/a wonderful squirmy sight./Birds Eye View of Herring Fry/Last night I went to a booth/theatre near here in the mountains/at a place called Stepaside./They played The Idiot Witness/the idiot had a bunch of newspaper/in his belt and every now and/then he made a sort of a bird,/which he called a wash, out of the paper Then he killed it/with a great carters whip/The acting was really very/good. The villain was made/up most fearful to look upon/Remember me to Robert and/Harvey and Willy I wish/I was still at Coole/adieu/Yours sincerely/Jack B. Yeats./P.T.O./There was a policeman at the theatre/who made himself The Life of the Party/putting his cap on his next door neigh-/bour's head - and shouting with/joy all the time'
pen and black ink
7 x 9 in. (18 x 23 cm.)

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Please note that the estimate for this work is £3,500-5,000.

Lot Essay

Yeats made a number of visits to Coole Park, the home of Lady Gregory, which in the summer was the core of the Irish literary world. She and Edward Martyn formed the Irish Literary Theatre, which led to the foundation of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1904.

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