£250
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. 124, [2]. Original burgundy boards, spine lettered in gilt, dustjacket printed in black and blue. Head of spine a little bumped, small nick to head of rear joint, dustjacket spotted and somewhat toned, particularly to spine panel.
The scarcer boards issue of the rare first edition of Greally's memoir of 18 years spent institutionalised against her will in St Loman's Psychiatric Hospital, following the death of her father and her mother's subsequent inability to care for her. Her mother encouraged her to stay there, but when the elder woman died, Greally lost the close family member required by Irish law to grant her freedom. On publication the scandal the book generated was enough to prompt an invitation to a late-night chat show for its author, but it was not reprinted until a 1987 Attic Press edition. In recent years there has been a revival of interest in Greally and Birds' Nest Soup, with a radio documentary, a stage production, and a reprint by Cork University Press, but the book remains very scarce in first edition, particularly the hardcover.
