A "treasure trove" of archival material belonging to poet, scholar and former deputy keeper of manuscripts at the British Library, Yorkshire man Robin Flower, has been donated to University College Cork.
The collection, which includes letters from Lady Augusta Gregory and JRR Tolkien, as well research notes and papers, and translations by Flower of poems from medieval Irish, have been gifted to the university by his grandson, Professor John Mitchell.
Flower, who died in 1946, had developed a love of the Irish language and literature and was particularly drawn to An Blascaod Mór, where from 1910 he spent his summer holidays, learned to speak Irish, and formed a close relationship with the islanders who called him "Bláithín".
He also published an account of life on Na Blascaodaí and translated his teacher Tomás Ó Criomhthain's An tOileánach into English.
UCC Professor of Modern Irish Pádraig Ó Macháin, who facilitated the donation, said the collection "reflects Flower's vast circle of friends and collaborators in Ireland, England and the USA. It sits very well with UCC's long association in research and teaching with the literature of the Blaskets".
He added: "It also helps to fill in the picture of Robin Flower the scholar, and the extremely busy life he led, particularly in the years before and during World War Two."
A series of public talks and readings will take place tomorrow at UCC to mark the donation.
This is the second significant donation of archival material to the university this week.
On Monday, they were gifted the archives of the late Irish actor Richard Harris.
