The Writer's Museum is in a lovely house where George Jameson, of the famous John Jameson and Sons Whiskey family, lived from 1891 to 1914. The home is beautiful and full of lovely details, including stained glass windows and painted doors and ceilings that were commissioned by George Jameson himself.
The writer's museum was one of my favorite things. There was an audio tour and lots of information about Irish writers such as W. B. Yeats, John Synge, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker (yes! He's Irish!), James Joyce, Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan (who just got a postage stamp this year) and the list goes on and on and on! It really got me thinking and reading!
One of the things that really stuck in my mind was a story about Patrick Kavanaugh who had written a poem titled "The Great Hunger". According to the Museum information, several lines were intentionally omitted in publication, so he went to the book seller's shops and wrote them in by hand! The museum has such a copy on display.
Though you cannot take photos on the first floor, (oh, here they would call that the ground floor) you can take photos on the second level (which here would be called the first floor). There were many paintings, books, and photos and the decoration of the home itself was quite lovely.
I just love Oscar!
Painting of James Joyce.
James Joyce's piano.
Photo of Joyce at the piano.
Laurie took this shot at the museum - all those errors made us laugh, and then made us wonder how that EVER got by in a Writer's Museum?!
From there we walked a few blocks to the James Joyce Center. The Center has a self-guided tour and there is a lot of information available about James Joyce. I think they also do a walking tour of places that are used or referenced in his writings, but those are on specific days in the mornings I think.
Below is the actual door to No. 7 Eccles Street. In his novel, Ulysses, (which they pronounced "U - lissees" on the audio tour - with the accent on the U) Number 7 Eccles Street is the home of the Bloom family. It was an actual home that Joyce had been to and he knew the family who once lived there.
The above is a picture of Patrick Kavanagh and friends who saved the door from demolition!
At the James Joyce Center, we were able to sit and read some of his writings. One was a children's book called "The Cat and the Devil" that he wrote for his nephew. The copy at the Center was donated by the nephew and it had an inscription by James Joyce. I loved it!
This picture of the book was actually taken at the Writer's Museum. The copy at the James Joyce Center was a bit larger and the cover had a different picture on the front.
From the museum, we walked down O'Connell Street to find his statue. Laurie and James Joyce chillin' in Dublin!
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