Yeats family present items for exhibition

Family treasures linked to William Butler Yeats are to be handed over to the National Library in Dublin today to be included in its forthcoming exhibition on the life and work of the poet.

Michael Yeats, his son, will present 20 items to the library this afternoon, on loan from the family for the duration of the exhibition.

They include an illuminated copy of The Lake Isle of Innisfree, printed by the poet's sister Elizabeth Yeats, and portraits of George Yeats, his wife, by Edmund Dulac and John Butler Yeats.

A Japanese sword wrapped in embroidered cloth, given to Yeats during a lecture tour of the United States in 1920 and described in his poem Meditations in Time of Civil War, also forms part of the presentation.

Junzo Sato was so moved by the Irish poet's lecture that he decided to part with his family heirloom, the 500-year-old sword.

Yeats was keenly appreciative of Japanese art.

Other items include the top hat worn by Yeats when he received the Nobel prize and two passports, dated 1916 and 1923.

The exhibition will also contain pictures of Yeats and Maud Gonne, the poet's muse who married the 1916 leader, John MacBride. They are on loan from Anna White, granddaughter of Gonne and daughter of Seán MacBride.

The material will augment the library's permanent collection of Yeats manuscripts and books, donated by the family over a number of years.

Within the permanent collection are early printed versions of many of Yeats's poems kept by his wife, his tarot cards and personal horoscopes.

Catherine Fahy, curator of the Yeats exhibition at the National Library, said they were grateful and pleased to be receiving the material from the Yeats family.

"The library has a rich holding of manuscripts already. George was diligent in keeping his papers," she said.

"With 30 or 40 drafts of the same poem, they show that even to a genius like Yeats it didn't come easy."

She said the new items would enhance the exhibition and convey something of the physical side of the man.

The exhibition will feature a sound installation with readings of the most popular Yeats poems and touch screens with in-depth information on each display, she said.

"This will be a stunning exhibition. Anyone with any interest at all in Yeats will like it," Ms Fahy added.