Bibliofemme News
|
  |
12/01/2006
May opening for Yeats exhibition
A passport dating from 1916, a valuable Japanese sword received as a gift
during a US lecture tour in 1920 and a cup won in 1879 winning a half mile
race at the Godolphin School in Hammersmith are among the items on temporary
loan to the National Library of Ireland for a large scale exhibition on the
life of poet WB Yeats in May.
Yeats' son Michael, now 84, said the family were delighted to be able to
contribute to the exhibition and played tribute to the Library for putting
it on.
He hopes that the exhibition will reveal a more personal side to his father:
"I think as he was born 140 years ago, to many people he seems to be a very
remote historical figure."
"I think this exhibition and the personal items on display show that he was
also a human person with a sense of humour - quite difficult from the poet
in an ivory tower that people think of."
The Library already holds the largest collection of Yeats manuscripts in the
world - 3,000 volumes owned and used by the late poet, and 350 titles by and
about him.
<- back to the news
|
