Description

Published 1948: First Edition / Hardcover / Very Good Condition

Original maroon cloth with gilt titles on the spine. 238 very clean and bright pages, mild speckled foxing on the endpapers. Boards slightly rubbed and faded with time and bumped on the corners consistent with age but remain firm and intact. A scarce original first edition. (HQ258)

Postage €6.95 including additional books ordered.
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O'Connor, Michael Patrick (1896–1967), doctor, writer, and broadcaster, was born 15 October 1896 in Loughrea, Co. Galway, the son of Thomas O'Connor, RIC sergeant, of Athenry Rd, Loughrea, and Mary O'Connor (née Scanlon). Reared a catholic, he received a secondary education locally. Seeking to escape the boredom of small-town life, he joined the British army; within weeks of enlistment, he found himself posted with the Royal Irish Regt. at Richmond barracks, Dublin, during the Easter 1916 rising. In his autobiography, The more fool I (1954), he recounts seeing Countess Markievicz (qv) standing in Citizen Army uniform in the barracks square. In the autumn of 1916 he was transferred to a cadet unit in Fermoy, Co. Cork, then served briefly with a home battalion of the Connaught Rangers in Kinsale. Sent to the front early in 1917, he saw active service in the trenches until he was gassed in March 1918.

Some of the short stories collected in West and east (1948) were reprinted from the Irish Press and the Straits Times (Singapore). On returning to Malaya to complete his contract (1947), O'Connor was appointed director of medical services in Singapore. During his tenure, he broadcast his children's stories on Radio Singapore. Transferred to Alor Star, on formation of the federation of Malaya (1 February 1948) he became a member ex officio of the state council of Kedah. Amid the incipient communist insurgency, he retired from the service in November 1948.

https://www.dib.ie/biography/oconnor-michael-patrick-a6606