We had a few hours to kill in Dublin last weekend so I decided to make some recompense to history, and the efforts of my ancestor William Martin Murphy, and go a visit the exhibition he tried to stop happening and at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Parnell Square.
It is a stunning gallery and the impressionists on view at the moment are a joy, the Bacon studio reproduction is quite incredible, the whole thing well worth a detour.
It was on our way back to the car when we fell upon Chapters Bookshop on Parnell Street. I had passed the one on Abbey Street and imagined it was just the usual collection of remaindered books, but no, upstairs I found the greatest collection of second-hand books, all properly catalogued, that I have ever come across in Ireland.
As well as the second hand section they had some “Hurt” books for sale cheaply, these were mainly coffee table books with some damage.
I could have happily spent several hours and several hundred Euros there.
As it was I left with five , mainly travel, books and still had change from €25.
Another worth a detour.