The Celtic Twilight. Men and Women, Dhoules and Faeries. Frontispiece plate by John B. Yeats. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1893. First Edition, Second Issue [publisher’s name in lower case at tail of spine]. Pp, 212, uncut. Publisher’s green cloth boards, light shelf wear, ownership name & bookplates to endpapers, contents in very good condition. [ Wade 8].

Portrait photograph of Yeats along with his original signature, pasted to verso of front free endpaper.

First published in 1893, The Celtic Twilight gave its name to the epoch of Ireland’s history that saw the beginnings of the Irish Literary Revival, the start of the Irish National Theatre, and all those aspects of Irish life that renewed interest in early Irish history, the great Celtic myths and the supernatural world of myth and folklore. Yeats writes in the introductory:

“I have, however, been at no pains to separate my own beliefs from those of the peasantry, but rather let my men and women, dhouls and faeries, go their way unoffended or defended by any argument of mine. The things a man has heard and seen are threads of life, and if he pull them carefully from the confused distaff of memory, any who will can weave them into whatever garments of belief please them best. I too have woven my garment like another, but I shall try to keep warm in it, and shall be well content if it do not unbecome me. Hope and memory have one daughter and her name is Art, and she has built her dwelling far from the desperate field where men hang out their garments on forked boughs to be banners of battle. O beloved daughter of Hope and Memory, be with me for a little.”