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Life
fl.1936; proprietor of the opticians and long-established instrument maker of that name on Dame St. (now defunct); photography and naturalist; privately claimed to have sold a magic lantern to the parish priest of Knock shortly before the apparition of the Blessed Virgin there which gave rise to its standing as a place of pilgrimage in Co. Mayo.
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Works
The Islands of Ireland: Their Scenery, People Life, and Antiquities, illustrated from photographs by the author [orig. 1936; 2nd rev. edn. 1938; 3rd edn.] (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd 1950), viii, 135pp., ills. [48 leaves of plates; col. front. & maps.], 23 cm.; Do. (Cork: Mercier Press, 1967), 141pp., ill. [by Cor Klaasen].
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Quotations
The Islands of Ireland (1936): ‘I am not sure why islands possess such a fascination for many people, but the fact remains that they do. Artists, literary men and even millionaires take up their abode on isolated islands and find there a retreat from the clamour and din of modern civilisation, where their spirits can expand and where the primitive virtues and values of mankind are not swamped in a material world which has, to a large extent, lost its soul.’ (Quoted in Máirín Nic Eoin, An Litríocht Réigiúnach, Baile Átha Cliath: An Clóchomhar Tta 1982, p.141.)
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