Identity Statement for Joseph Maunsell Hone
- Reference code: IE UCDA P229
- Title: Papers of Joseph Maunsell Hone (1882–1959)
- Dates: (1898–1963)
- Level of description: Fonds
- Extent: 9 boxes
- Context
- Content and Structure
- Conditions of Access and Use
Biographical History
Born in Dublin in February 1882, Joseph Maunsell Hone was educated at Wellington and Jesus College, Cambridge and began a writing career which gained him a reputation as a leading figure of the Irish literary revival. He wrote well regarded biographies of George Moore (1939), Henry Tonks (1936), and W.B. Yeats (1943) with whom he was on terms of close friendship. His political writings included books on the 1916 rebellion, the Irish Convention, and a history of Ireland since independence, published in 1932. He had a strong interest in philosophy, translating Daniel Halévy’s life of Nietzsche and working with Arland Ussher on an anthology of philosophers which was never completed. He was elected President of the Irish Academy of Letters in 1957.
With George Roberts and Stephen Gwynn, he co-founded Maunsel & Company, publishers, and served as its chairman. The company published more than five hundred titles to become Ireland’s largest publishing house, publishing works by all the revival’s leading figures. The imprint later changed to Maunsel & Roberts.
Joseph Hone died in March 1959 and was survived by his wife Vera (neé Brewster), a noted beauty from New York whom he had married in 1911.
Archival History
This collection was deposited in UCD Archives by David and Rosemary Hone in 2008.
Scope and Content
General correspondence, 1898–1963. Mixture of holograph and typed letters, sent mostly to Joseph Hone but also to his wife Vera and son David, as well as some letters presumably collected by Hone for research purposes.
Material related to biographies written by Hone on Henry Tonks, George Moore and W.B. Yeats. Typed and handwritten notes, as well as holograph letters collected by Hone from the original recipients for research purposes.
Material related to other books written by Hone on John Butler Yeats and on philosophy. Extensive handwritten notes on the latter.
Short pieces of writing such as essays and reviews written by Hone and by others, mainly typewritten.
Notebooks used by Hone while researching his books and articles.
- Access: Available by appointment to holders of a UCD Archives reader's ticket. Produced for consultation in microform.
- Language: English, with some material in French.
- Finding aid: Descriptive catalogue