Irish and English first editions, limited copies and books at Fonsie Mealy

This narrative on Jack Dempsey signed by Rocky Marciano is at Fonsie Mealy's sale.

A complete set of Moore’s Dublin Edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, totalling 19 volumes, illustrated with nearly 400 copper plates features at Fonsie Mealy’s timed online Spring Rare Book and Collector’s timed auction which runs until next Wednesday (April 24). James Moore’s 1791-97 reprint of the third edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica was technically legal because British copyright protections did not apply in Ireland until after the Act of Union in 1800.

Unlike Britannica volumes, all dated 1797, Moore’s title pages were dated the year they were printed, from 1788 to 1797. The result is that the pirated version of the Irish work has an earlier date than the original. The
estimate on what was the largest and most expensive publication to appear in Ireland at the time is €700-€1,000.