Collected Works
G. B. Shaw once remarked on the dangerousness of the dreamers who act out their dreams. Patrick (Padraic) Henry Pearse (1879–1916) was one such individual who, imbued with tales of Irish heroes, fantasized about being a hero. Editor of the Gaelic League's bulletin, An Claidheamh Soluis, and co-founder of the Irish Volunteers (1913), he and six Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) colleagues issued a proclamation on Easter Monday, 1916, declaring an Irish republic, for which he was designated president. For this he was court-martialed and on the 4th May, 1916, executed. This particular edition of this modern-day Irish hero's work is scarce, published only one year after his death.