O’Sullivan, M.L. [Michael John] / [Moore, Thomas].

A Fasciculus of Lyric Verses : By the Late M.J.O’Sullivan, Esq., Barrister at Law, dedicated, (by Permission), to Thomas Moore, Esq. [With a Memoir of the Author and a “Biographical Sketch of the Late Joseph Augustine Wade – The Last Production of the AUthor, written a few days before his death”].

First Edition. Cork, From the Machine of W. Scraggs, 102, Patrick-Street, 1846. Octavo. 84 pages. Private half cloth – binding of the time. Bookblock nearly detached form binding. Some rubbing to corners and spine. Interior, pages and titlepage in excellent condition and very clean. Signed and dated by the preowner in the year 1847 (″JSA” or “HA”). Extremely Rare !

Includes for example the following Poems:

To Thomas Moore / Fairy Song – Irish Melody / Fairy Invocation / Barcarolle / Lament (Ancient Irish Melody, ‘Go no more rushing”) / Song (The Musis by Sir John Stevenson) / The Emigrant – An Unfinished Poem / The River Lee / To the Memory of the Late W. Maginn, L.L.D. written upon his Grave at Waltham on Thames / etc. etc.

O’Sullivan, Michael John (1794–1845), journalist and playwright, was born in 1794, the only son of Daniel Sullivan of Cork city, woollen draper. He was educated at the academy in Cork run by the Maginn family and won a gold medal at an early age as the outstanding pupil. Deciding on a legal career he was at the Middle Temple in 1815 and was called to the Irish bar at King’s Inns in November 1817. While at the Middle Temple he published The prince of the lake: or, O’Donoghue of Rosse: a poem in two cantos (London and Cork, 1815). He had a deep love of drama and writing, and abandoned his legal career in 1818. He was appointed editor of the Freeman’s Journal, and held that position for seven years, while also editing the Theatrical Observer. He subsequently edited the Star and the Correspondent, and wrote for a wide variety of contemporary publications.

In 1814 he dramatised Byron’s ‘Corsair’ and did the same the following year with Thomas Moore’s (qv) ‘Lalla Rookh’, which ran for one hundred successive nights in Dublin. Fluent in several languages, he published numerous translations from German and French. An accomplished musician, he also wrote songs and duets for several operas. His adaptation of Beethoven’s ‘Adelaida’, which he wedded to his song of ‘Rosalie’, gained wide prominence. His songs and ballads were regarded as amongst the most popular of the era and were performed or arranged by composers of the time, including Sir John Stevenson (qv). He also wrote the libretto for the opera, ‘Clare, or the maid of Milan’ for John Howard Payne.

The duke of Leinster appointed him poet laureate to the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland, and to celebrate that occasion he wrote a paraphrase of the 133rd psalm. He contributed a large number of poems and articles to Frazer’s Literary Chronicle, often under the pseudonyms of ‘M. J. S.’ or ‘Paddy from Cork’. His poem, ‘O’Donoghue, the prince of the lake’ was widely admired and was published in pamphlet form (1815). He contributed poems and ballads to a wide range of other journals, including the Cork-based Harmonica, but many of these remain unknown and do not feature in the posthumous collection of his work published in 1846 under the title, A fasciculus of lyric verses. By the late M. J. O’Sullivan, B.L. A memoir included in that publication tells of a warm, witty man who was an eloquent speaker, an engaging conversationalist, deeply erudite, and universally liked. He died in 1845.
(Source: Dictionary of Irish Biography).

• Keywords: Catalogue Irish History Three – From Famine to Free State · Catalogue Irish History Two – Origins of Irish Identity · Catalogue One – History of Law · Catalogue Ten – International Literature · Cork · Irish History of Law · Irish Law · Irish Legal History · Irish Literature – 19th Century · Irish Literature – Rare · Irish Plays · Irish Poetry · Irish Poetry – Rare · Law · Law – Rare · Plays · Poetry – Rare
• Inventory Number: 31759AB

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