In the SALEROOMS

MORGAN O’DRISCOLL

In 1955, you could pick up a pair of Jack Butler Yeats watercolour and ink paintings for just £25. A typewritten note affixed to the back of The Bold Captain Frenay II (est.

€5,000 to €7,000) describes how the collector made the purchase: “He showed me several of his latest impressionist type of oil paintings, priced atthat time

£100.

But I wanted one of his earlier works

(of the style in the Irish Grammar books that he illustrated). After a search he discovered these two at the back of a curtained shelf. They were already framed. When I challenged him that they might be a print from the Cuala Press he said “Anyone can tell that these are original!” The painting is coming up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish & International Art Auction at the RDS Minerva Suite, Dublin, on Monday at 6pm. morganodriscoll.com

HERMAN & WILKINSON

The Irish and International Art Auction that takes place at Herman & Wilkinson, Dublin, on Wednesday, May 2, has an emphasis on accessibility and includes works from Louis Le Brocquy, Jack Butler Yeats, Markey Robinson, Kenneth Webb, and John Skeleton. The sale also includes a collection of works by Edward Augustine McGuire (1901-1992). One of these, EcceHomo (est. €2,000 to €3,000), was shown at the Exhibition of Living Art 1950. The sale begins at 7pm in the Swan Hall. hermanwilkinson.ie

VICTOR MEE

A sale on Tuesday, May 1 and Wednesday, May 2, includes an unusual tableaux of Victorian shopkeeping. A reconstructed 19th century chemist’s ship includes the original counters, wall cabinets, apothecary drawers and glass labels as well as a rare McQuaid rubberoid advertising figure, Fry’s Chocolate advertising cabinet and rare Young’s Medical gilt and wooden shop sign. This shop, originally from Co Tipperary, was once a pillar of its local community, providing residents with potions, lotions and remedies for more than 100 years. Viewing continues until April 30 from 11am-6pm. victormeeauctions.ie

FONSIE MEALY

A rare first edition of The Hobbit or There and Back Again (1937) (est. €20,000 to €30,000, pictured ) by JRR Tolkien is going under the hammer at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Book & Collector’s Sale which takes place at the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel on Wednesday, May

2 at 10.30am. The book comes complete with map and pictorial dust jacket and is one of just

1,500 copies sold from the original print run. A first edition of Irish fantasy fiction, Touchstone (1989)by Peter Regan, with original illustrations by Pamela Leonard, is estimated to sell between €3,500 and

€4,500. The book is signed by the artist and includes the original illustration of Captain Skiron with a waitress, then considered “not suitable for a children’s book”. Viewing continues next Monday and Tuesday. fonsiemealy.ie