SEAN & GERALDINE NEESON of Cork A very good collection of autograph signed letters, including about 15 letters and a telegram from Geraldine O'Sullivan to her fiance Sean Neeson mostly during his...

SEAN & GERALDINE NEESON of Cork A very good collection of autograph signed letters, including about 15 letters and a telegram from Geraldine O'Sullivan to her fiance Sean Neeson mostly during his internment at Newbridge Camp, Co. Kildare, 1923, with a few other letters to Neeson. Sean Neeson, a Sinn Fein member from Belfast, later based in Cork, was interned at Newbridge presumably for anti-Treaty activities. He took part in the 1923 hunger strike there. It appears he was released in 1924 (two letters dated July/August 1924 are addressed to him in Cork). The letters are in excellent condition; most have censor's marks, and most are with their original envelopes. Geraldine O'Sullivan, Sean's fianc? and later his wife, was a classical pianist and teacher; Sean Neeson was a singer, and her letters contain much about the musical life of Cork, the Fleischmanns and other friends, and their plans for the future, including joint recitals. A letter dated 26.xi.1923, written on the train from Dublin, describes how she played at a musical function at Rose's, and Mr. and Mrs. Clarke and their three children came. When she played [Beethoven's] 'Appassionata', apparently rather well, 'there was a little sensation. Harry Clarke got up and said it was terrible to think of me going to Lennox Robinson as a suppliant for the hall, and that he would give L.R. a heart to heart talk in the morning.' [Apparently she wished to book the Abbey hall for a performance. Lennox Robinson was a close friend of Harry Clarke, so presumably she got the hall]. A later letter mentions that she has been asked to pose for Clarke's wife, the portrait painter Margaret Crilley. Others mentioned include Muriel [MacSwiney, widow of Terence], apparently a close friend, her daughter Maire, Sean [probably MacSwiney, brother of Terence], Maire and Annie [MacSwiney], Geraldine's sister Una, her friend or relative Jennie, etc. There are also a few letters to Sean Neeson relating to the L.D.F., 1940s; and an enthusiastic autograph testimonial for Geraldine as a pianist and teacher from T[illy] Fleischmann, undated (circa 1922-3). A fine collection, with many interesting references which could doubtless be elucidated by someone with a knowledge of the Cork background. Provenance: Eoin Neeson, by descent.

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