Cathleen Ni Hoolihan. A Play in One Act and in Prose by W.B. Yeats. London: Printed at the Caradoc Press Chiswick for A.H. Bullen, 1902. First Edition in book form. Pp, 29, uncut. Original cream paper boards with leather spine lettered in brown on front cover. Spotting & dust soiling to boards, lower inner hinge cracked but binding sound; contents in fine bright condition.

According to Wade [40], approximately 300 copies were printed. The play first appeared in the Irish theatrical periodical, ‘Samhain.’

Yeats uses an allegorical figure from Jacobite poetry Cathleen Ní Hoolihan as Ireland. She first appears as ‘The Poor Old Woman,’ who complains that her land has been taken from her, and she wants it back. While any man who helps her sacrifices everything, he ‘shall be remembered forever.’ Leaving the cottage, she is transformed into ‘a young girl’ with ‘the walk of a queen.’