Nov 22, 2005 - Sale 2058

Sale 2058 - Lot 316

Price Realized: $ 3,680
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
ON THE PREMIERE OF THE COUNTESS CATHLEEN YEATS, WILLIAM BUTLER. Autograph Letter Signed, "W. B. Yeats," to Miss Fitzgerald, discussing the controversy surrounding his play The Countess Cathleen and Frank Hugh O'Donnell's attempt to have its Dublin premiere interrupted, but writing that it was a great success and praising Edward Martyn's The Heather Field. 2 pages, folded 8vo sheet, Coole Park stationery; usual folds. Galway, 21 May [1899]

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". . . We had a wonderful success in Dublin with both plays -- a far greater success than we could have expected. I had to face with mine an organized opposition stirred up by a personal enemy who issued a pamphlet charging me with blasphemy & the like. The Nation, the ultra conservative organ, took up these charges & called upon the audience to hoot the players from the stage. The opposition was however utterly extinguished by applause. Mr. Martyn's play had one of the greatest triumphs I have ever seen . . ."