Mr. Gregory’s Letter-Box 1813-1830. Edited by Lady Gregory. London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1895. First Edition. Pp 352, [8]. Publisher’s orange cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to spine. Light scuffing to covers, otherwise a very good copy. Newspaper clipping of a letter to The Times (02/08/1907) by Lady Gregory tipped-in at rear.

William Robert Gregory’s copy with his ink ownership inscription in Irish to endpaper: ‘ W.R. Gregory, Ó n-a mháthair, 4/3/’98 [W.R. Gregory from his mother/4 March 1898].

William Robert Gregory (1881-1918), painter, theatre designer, sportsman, and airman, was born 20 May 1881 in London, only child of Sir William Gregory of Coole Park, Co. Galway, and his second wife, Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory. As was one of the most experienced pilots in the RFC he transferred to the Italian front as a training officer. At the age of 36 he was killed on 23rd January 1918, probably shot down in error by an Italian pilot. Robert’s death had a lasting effect on W. B. Yeats, and he became the subject of four poems by him: In Memory of Major Robert Gregory, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, Shepherd and Goatherd, and Reprisals.

Edited selections of the correspondence of the Right Honourable William Gregory ( Lady Gregory’s father-in-law) public servant, chairman of the East India company and a British MP. The letters were part of a large cache stored in a strong box at Coole Park.