A gift, of rare books from Joseph M. Hassett ’64 to the Rev. J. Clayton Murray, SJ, Archives and Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library, will be featured in an exhibit in the Peter and Mary Lou Vogt Gallery, located on the library’s main floor, through October 9, 2014.
The Irish Literary Revival and the City of Light: W.B. Yeats and Florence Farr ~ Visits to Buffalo, NY 1907-1914 draws from this acquisition and focuses on performances in Buffalo of two leading figures of the Irish literary revival: the Nobel Prize winning poet, William Butler Yeats, and his sometime Muse, Florence Farr, the actress, theater manager and reciter to a stringed instrument called the psaltery.
Performances and readings by Yeats and Farr were given at the Albright Art Gallery (now Albright-Knox Art Gallery) and the 20th Century Club on Delaware Avenue on various dates from 1907-1914.
The W.B. Yeats Collection Gift of Joseph M. Hassett ’64 includes first edition inscribed volumes by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Among the gifts are works printed and published in the early 20th century by the famous Dublin arts and crafts , Cuala Press, operated by the poet’s sister, Elizabeth. Also included are inscribed volumes of Yeats’ essays, as well as a very rare first edition of his play “Land of Heart’s Desire” featuring a cover and title page drawing of Aubrey Beardsley’s iconic design for the Avenue Theater poster.
Hassett received his BA in English from Canisius, and is a noted Yeats scholar. The author of two books on the poet, Yeats and the Poetics of Hate; and, W.B. Yeats and the Muses, he also is a graduate of Harvard Law School,holds a Ph.D. in Anglo-Irish Literature from University College Dublin, Ireland, and currently practices law in Washington, D.C. A member of the Board of Trustees, he is founder of the Hassett Family Reading at Canisius College, which hosts prominent Irish Literary figures on campus.
Included in Hassett’s gift is a copy of Seamus Heaney’s Nobel Lecture, Crediting Poetry inscribed, “For Canisius College/Remembering the welcome for the Joseph Hassett Reading/ 23 October 2013.” This volume is installed in a case on the library’s lower level.
Hassett will close the exhibit with the Archives Speaker Series Lecture, W.B. Yeats and Florence Farr Visit the City of Light, on Tuesday, October 7 at 7 p.m. in the library. Please note that due to a scheduling conflict, the date for this lecture has been moved from Thursday, October 9. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The exhibit is open to the public during the library’s open hours listed here: http://library.canisius.edu/hours. Both the exhibit and lecture are free.
For more information please contact: Kathleen DeLaney, Archivist at 716-888-8421 or delaneyk@canisius.edu
Submitted by: Kathleen DeLaney,Archivist/Reference Librarian, Library
