English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds. Four Letters from Ireland, Addressed to An English Member of Parliament. London: John Murray, 1848. First Edition. Pp iv, 265 [2]. Original cloth boards ruled in blind, title label to spine. Light shelf-wear to boards; a very good copy.

Inscribed by the Author on front free endpaper.

Aubrey de Vere (Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick) came from a literary family, and it is as a poet that he is best known. In early 1846 de Vere witnessed the ravages of the potato famine, which he tried desperately to alleviate by becoming involved with the work of the relief committees.

In ‘English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds’ first published in 1848, he criticised British rule in Ireland and revealed his understanding of the social and economic complexities of the Irish situation, informed by his experiences of practical philanthropy in the famine years.