[CASEMENT, Sir Roger, 1864-1916, subject]. QUINN, John. Roger Casement, Martyr. In: The New York Times Magazine Section. New York: The New York Times, August 13, 1916.
18 folio pages. Illustrated. Loose leaves excised from the magazine section. Leaves toned, edgeworn, with numerous marginal tears, chips. A rare contemporary account of the trial and execution of Sir Roger Casement. Casement had been an Irish-born English diplomat, one of the earliest English diplomats to investigate atrocities against indigenous peoples during the Boer War and in South America (these experiences increased his mistrust in imperialism). As an Irish nationalist, he sought German military aid for the Irish Easter Rising in 1916, and was promptly arrested for treason. Before his trial, the British Government circulated excerpts from Casement’s “Black Diaries,” detailing alleged homosexual activities (homosexuality was illegal in Britain at this time; although there was a study in 2002 that proved that the handwriting in the diaries was Casement’s, there is still some dispute today that it was indeed written by him). He was tried, found guilty, and was hanged in prison on August 3, 1916. There were various notables who pleaded for clemency for Casement, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw. Doyle had based the character of Lord John Roxton in his novel, The Lost World (1912), years before Casement’s arrest. Offered with five modern titles about Casement and his case (Roger Casement a New Judgement by Rene MacColl (1956 in dust jacket and 1957, without dust jacket), Roger Casement by Brian Inglis (1974, two copies in dust jacket), and The Devil and Mr. Casement (2010 in dust jacket); all are first American or first editions.