Despite Fools’ Laughter. Poems by Terence MacSwiney, Edited by B.G. MacCarthy. Dublin: Gill & Son, 1944. First Edition. Pp xii 74. Frontispiece portrait plate. Quarter cloth paper boards, in dust jacket printed in green. Damp stain to head of spine, neat ownership inscription (poem) to front free endpaper. Contents in fine bright condition.

Terence MacSwiney is reputed to have been quoted by Mahatma Gandhi as the main inspiration for his own life’s work leading to the downfall of the British empire in India; Ho Chi Minh said of MacSwiney: ‘A nation which has such citizens will never surrender.’

MacSwiney died after 78 days on hunger strike in 1920, his ‘Principles of Freedom’ was published posthumously in 1921.