The Soldier’s Song. The Story of Peadar Kearney. Dublin: Bourke, 1957. First Edition. Pp, 255. . Brown paper boards, in publisher’s dust jacket. A fine bright copy.

Presentation copy, Inscribed by the author on half-title.

Peadar Kearney is best known for writing the lyrics of the Irish national anthem, “Amhrán na bhFiann” (The Soldier’s Song), which he composed in 1907.

The song was set to music by his friend Patrick Heeney. Kearney fought at Jacob’s Biscuit Factory during the Easter Rising of 1916. After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, he took the pro-treaty side and served as an official censor at Kilmainham and Portlaoise prisons.