A chara, - As Minister Sile de Valera and director of the National Library, Brendan O'Donoghue, displayed the manuscript of the "Circe" episode of James Joyce's Ulysses, my eye fixed firmly on the faded brown envelope that formed part of the purchased lot. The addressee, a name very familiar to me, was John Quinn Esquire of 31 Nassau Street, New York. The postmark was dated April 1921.
John Quinn (1870-1924) was a shrewd Irish-American lawyer who was patron to the entire Yeats family. He worked actively on behalf of Maud Gonne in her divorce case with John MacBride. He had a passionate affair with Lady Gregory when the Abbey Theatre toured the USA. He became an obsessive collector of books, manuscripts and paintings. I think that in the understandable euphoria over the recent Joycean purchase, John Quinn deserves a mention. - Yours, etc.,
Tony Jordan, Gilford Road, Dublin 4.