Brian Lynch :: Endsville

ENDSVILLE
by
Brian Lynch & Paul Durcan

New Writers Press
1967

ENDSVILLE

My first book, shared with Paul Durcan, and the first book issued under the New Writers' Press imprint.

Note: The title 'Endsville' does not appear on the cover of the book. Instead, the name of the putative series, 'New Irish Poets', appears to be the title, and is described as such in some catalogues. To confuse the thing further, New Writers Press were only nominally the publishers. Paul Durcan and I, acting under our own steam, were engaged in having the book printed by the Museum Bookshop (on the corner of Kildare Street and Molesworth Street in Dublin). The proprietor was a man called Chichester-Clark, a relation of a subsequent Northern Ireland Prime Minister, James Chichester-Clark. When Michael Smith told me he was starting the NWP - the first publication on his list was Trevor Joyce's 'Sole Glum Trek' - we agreed that it would be a good idea to use the imprint on 'Endsville'. But that was the extent of the connection.

The sculptor John Behan did the cover, an ink drawing on a large sheet of paper, which is now lost.

As I remember it, 'Endsville' cost Ł67 to print, a considerable sum in those days, which came out of my pocket.

I can't remember if it was ever placed on sale in bookshops. The Eblana bookshop in Grafton Street may have taken some copies. If it was sold I don't think either of us got any money for it.

BRIAN LYNCH

ENDSVILLE