Getting a call to clear a house following a person's death is pretty routine for Meath-based auctioneer, Damien Matthews. He gets a call like that "every day of the week". But he recently got a call that was certainly not routine. He joined Ryan Tubridy to talk about Mary Colette McAlister's incredible collection of approximately 30,000 books, which Damien has been asked to sell.
Damien describes being called to "an early 18th Century sea captain's house". Not knowing the scale of what he would find in the house, he remembers that when he got there, the number of books was "phenomenal".
"It was full of books. Literally every room. On beds, in beds, under the beds. You know, everywhere. There was over 30,000 books in it".
"Frugal" in all other aspects of her budgeting, Damien says Mary "dedicated her life to books". Knowing now that she was a part-time History and Biology teacher, the theme of "knowledge" running throughout the collection makes sense to Damien. He told Ryan that he sees them as "important books, interesting books, books of knowledge", noting that there is "no light reading".
In the full interview, Damien describes the mammoth effort that went into moving and sorting thousands of books, his plans to sell the books in Kells at the Hinterland Festival and the idea that "our personal memories are our true wealth".
Damien has a busy few days ahead of him at auction, calculating that he will run 1490 lots over 2 days, trying to maintain a pace of about "150 lots an hour".
Listen back to Damien Matthews on The Ryan Tubridy Show here.