Samhain. December 1904

Samhain. December 1904

Dublin

Sealy, Bryers, and Walker

1904

With sketches on the cover by John Butler Yeats of actors William Fay and Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh as characters in Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen.

Edited by W. B. Yeats, Samhain succeeded Beltaine as the organ for the Irish Literary Theatre. It contained the first appearances anywhere of Yeats’s Cathleen ni Houlihan and J. M. Synge’s In the Shadow of the Glen, which is also the first true publication of any of Synge’s work. One of four ancient Gaelic festivals, Samhain was held on November 1, marking the beginning of winter, approximately halfway between the September equinox and the December solstice.