BALLINA will become the envy of the rest of Ireland later this year when one of the most impressive private collections of historical memorabilia opens in the town.
The Jackie Clarke Library, which is to be located in the former Moy Hotel, has been described by experts as being on a par with the famous Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. It contains more than 15,000 documents, spanning nearly 400 years of Irish history, and boasts many rare and previously unseen items. Its material on the 1916 Rising, alone, is without precedent and includes personal items from each of the seven members of the Military Council as well as the Proclamation itself. There are only 29known copies of the famous Proclamation in existence and the document would be expected to fetch up to •300,000 if it were put up for auction. Instead, it - and all the other items in the Jackie Clarke Library - have been donated to the town of Ballina by the family of the late businessman in what can only be described as an unprecedented act of civic generosity

Posted: 04|12|06 at 2:43 pm. Filed under: Auction News.