Fine Arts: Weird and wonderful array of rareties from De Burca

The antique publisher’s latest catalogue features everything from a Book of Kells facsimile to a silver medal won by Maud Gonne’s basset hound

The first Irish edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker, 1933 (€1,250), is for sale in De Burca’s 146th catalogue: see deburcararebooks.com

For a riveting insight into Irish life over centuries, I can heartily recommend De Burca Rare Books 146th Autumn Catalogue. The most unexpected volume comprises the earliest report of a sighting of a UFO over Ireland – in 1679. On a clear and calm evening in Poins-Town in Tipperary, 16 eyewitnesses saw (they claimed) a ship in the sky, so near they could perceive the masts and men, before it sank into the sea, the ...