Brendan Lynch

“Parsons Bookshop: At the Heart of Bohemian Dublin 1949-1989”

For forty years from 1949, Parsons Bookshop was a Dublin literary landmark and meeting place.

Situated on the crest of Baggot Street’s Grand Canal bridge, it defined the Bohemian quarter of writers and artists known as Baggotonia. Owned by May O’Flaherty, who was ably assisted by Mary King and three other ladies, the shop played a major role in Ireland’s literary and cultural development.
Parsons was second home to Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh. Other customers included Flann O’Brien, Liam O’Flaherty, Frank O’Connor, Mary Lavin, Nobel Prizewinner Seamus Heaney and artists Patrick Pye, John Behan and Noel Lewis.

This chronicle of a very special establishment is illustrated by over sixty photographs.

Review Excerpts

Irish Independent: “Brendan Lynch has provided an affectionate account.”

Sunday Business Post: “Personalities crowd every page to make the book come alive. They move in and out of chapters almost as they moved in and out of the shop, disappearing and then reappearing, older but just as wild, in yet some other story. …In an age of book chains and computerised ordering…. it may be hard for a younger reader to imagine a world this intimate, but Lynch’s book is an excellent place to start.”

Metro: “Brendan Lynch wonderfully evokes the halcyon days of this venerable institution….. amid the tears there is much love and laughter in this moreish, freewheeling account of bohemian pre-Celtic Tiger Dublin.”

Library Review (USA): “Lynch has written a scholarly book as addictive as an issue of Hello! … an intimate, eccentric, and loving look into a time and a place (Parsons) that are now gone. Recommended for large public and academic libraries with Anglo-Irish literature collections.”

Ireland of the Welcomes: “Thank you very much, Brendan Lynch, for a book about a bookshop which rivals the marvellous best in that select and splendid class of book!”

Hard & Softcover
Publisher: The Liffey Press (Nov 2006) www.theliffeypress.com
ISBN: 1856079376