Patricia Lynch Collection

Collection Dates: [c1930]-1970

Extent: 72 items

Patricia Lynch was born in 1894 in Cork City. 

As a child, she was put in the care of a Mrs Hennessy from Bantry, who was renowned in the vicinity as a storyteller. It was from her that Patricia inherited a fascination with Irish folklore. 

Lynch's earliest children's stories were published in The Irish Press in 1931. Between then and 1967, when her last children's novel was published, she wrote around 50 children's books and around two hundred short stories. 

In her work she addressed themes such as childhood rejection, loneliness, and emigration. Her work was translated into several European languages and won various national and international awards.

The collection contains 72 items including various editions of Lynch's work, including a first edition of The Turf-Cutter’s Donkey (1934). It also includes the complete Brogeen series (1940s-60s) as well as Eibhlín agus Séamus (1942). More modern texts include The Dark Sailor of Youghal (1995), which was first published in 1951. 

The collection reflects the unique imagination and writing skills of Lynch, one of the most popular children’s authors of the newly independent Irish Free State. Collected by St. Patrick’s library DCU the Patricia Lynch collection sits within the larger Junior Special Collection and many of the items still retain their bright illustrated dust jackets with evocative images of the Irish places and characters described in the stories within.