The Aran Islands. With Drawings by Jack B. Yeats. Dublin: Maunsel, 1911. Library Edition. Pp xiv, 256. Buckram boards, title in gilt to spine. Covers faded, with light shelf-wear, contents pages in good condition.

Illustrated with the frontispiece and eleven other illustrations by Jack B. Yeats.

William Butler Yeats persuaded Synge to live for a while in the Aran Islands and then return to Dublin and devote himself to creative work. Synge first travelled to the primitive, little-known Aran Islands in 1898. His trip proved to be a wonderfully fruitful and decisive experience. He then went back for part of each summer until 1902.

The Aran Islands, his memoir of those experiences, was published in 1907, and the future playwright called it his ‘first serious piece of work.’