Letter from Swift a highlight among historic Irish books

Also celebrating the written word, a Bonham’s London sale has several items of historic Irish import. The leading Irish lot is a document signed by Jonathan Swift appointing the Revd Theophilus Bolton as acting dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, in his absence, on May 7, 1722.

In the throes of writing Gulliver’s Travels, Swift set out on a six-month tour of the north of Ireland, later claiming that he had travelled 400 ...