IRISH WAR NEWS - THE IRISH REPUBLIC, VOLUME 1, NO. 1, DUBLIN, TUESDAY APRIL 25 1916, 4pp newspaper, containing Padraig Pearse's historic first communiqu? from the GPO, issued at 9.30am on the...

IRISH WAR NEWS - THE IRISH REPUBLIC, VOLUME 1, NO. 1, DUBLIN, TUESDAY APRIL 25 1916, 4pp newspaper, containing Padraig Pearse's historic first communiqu? from the GPO, issued at 9.30am on the morning of 25th April, announcing the setting up of the Provisional Government and naming its seven members, and urging the citizens of Ireland to support the rebellion ''The Republican forces everywhere are fighting with splendid gallantry. The populace of Dublin are plainly with the Republic, and the officers and men are everywhere cheered as they march through the streets. The whole centre of the city is in the hands of the Republic, whose flag flies from the GPO''. Immediately the GPO was occupied on Easter Monday Padraig Pearse set about organising the production of a newspaper which would bring news of the rebellion to the people and act as a mouthpiece for the infant Republic. The premises of a printer were commandeered in nearby Halston Street, and a team of workers assembled to produce the Republic's first newspaper. In the event, this was the only edition of Irish War News printed, and it should be noted that, unlike that other great document of the Irish Republic, the Proclamation, this sole edition of Irish War News was actually written and produced while the Rebellion was in progress. Whilst the Proclamation had been produced prior to the occupation of the GPO, Padraig Pearse actually wrote the manuscript draft of his Communique under fire, inside the GPO itself. Afterwards, James Connolly's secretary, Winifrid Carney, who had famously entered the GPO with a typewriter in one hand and a Webley revolver in the other, produced the typescript. Copies of Irish War News are also far rarer than copies of the Proclamation, with less than 10 examples known to have survived.

View more View less