The Times We Lived In: The importance of a pen

The closest most of us get to a ceremonial signing nowadays is that awful scribbly thing you have to do on the postman’s electronic device when he delivers a parcel. But, you object, it won’t look like my signature. Sure it doesn’t mean anything anyway, declares the postman, who is so relieved to have found somebody at home that you could have inscribed “Minnie P Mouse III” on his screen, and he’d still go away happy.

As today's photograph shows, there was rather more pomp and ceremony when the honorary freedom of the city of Dublin was bestowed upon Sir Alfred Chester Beatty in the summer of 1956. In our picture, the mining magnate adds his name to the ledger which already contains the signatures of the tenor John McCormack, who was given the award in 1923; John Lavery, who got it in 1935; and George Bernard Shaw, who became a freeman of the city in 1946.

Watching rather anxiously over the proceedings is, on the left of the shot, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Robert Briscoe TD, and the clerk of the city council, JJ Rowe – who has thoughtfully brought along a spare pen, just in case there’s any problem on the old biro front.

Were they afraid that Sir Alfred would blot his copybook? They needn’t have worried: he proved to be pretty adept at ceremonial signings. Some 12 years after the freedom of the city signing – and 50 years ago this year – he signed his collection of rare books and Oriental manuscripts over to the Irish people.

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It took us a few decades to really appreciate the magnitude of the bequest. But now that it’s suitably housed in the Clock Tower at Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library is perfectly placed to show off the gorgeous core collection. It has also played host to visiting shows featuring artworks by, among others, Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt and Matisse.

This autumn the library will pay tribute to Sir Alfred with a curated exhibition of masterpieces from the collection Appropriately entitled Gift of a Lifetime, it opens on October 19th. Not to be missed, for all sorts of reasons – not least a reminder that a signature, once upon a time, actually meant something.

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