If you would like to sponsor this page please contact us.

Grace Rhys (1865 - 1929).

Grace Little was born at Knockadoo, Boyle, Co. Roscommon on 12 July 1865, the youngest daughter of J. Bennett Little. Her father is reported to have lost all his money through gambling and, after receiving a good education from governesses, Grace and her sisters moved to London as adults to work.

In 1891 she married the poet Ernest Percival Rhys (1859 - 1946), whom she met at a garden party given by W. B. Yeats. The pair sometimes worked together. Her first novel was "Mary Dominic", published in 1898 and this was followed by "The Wooing of Sheila" in 1901. Several of her stories have an Irish setting, including "The Charming of Estercel" (1904) which is set in Elizabethan Ireland. "Irish Literature" said of her that her novels were written with sympathy and tenderness.

Her other works include "Five Beads on a String" (1903) and "The Bride" (1909). She wrote poetry and books for children, of which she herself had three - a son and two daughters. She also edited the 12 volume Banbury Cross series for children and Canterbury Press "Cradle Songs".

The Rhys family were well known for entertaining writers and critics at their London home on Sunday afternoons. She died in Washington DC while accompanying her husband on an American lecture tour in 1929.

This is a short list of some of her works:

Cradle Songs and Nursery Rhymes. (London: Scott 1894).

The Banbury Cross Series. 12 vols. (London: Dent 1894-95). *

Mary Dominic. (London: Dent 1898).

The Wooing of Sheila. (London: Methuen 1901).

The Diverted Village. A Holiday Book (London: Methuen 1903).

Five Beads on a String. (Priory Press Booklets 1903).

The Prince of Lisnover. (London: Methuen 1904).

The Children’s England. (London: Cassell 1908).

The Bride. (London: Methuen 1909).

Poems. (Dublin: Maunsel 1909).

Mother Goose’s Book of Nursery Rhymes and Songs. (Everyman’s Library 1909).

The Charming of Estercel. (London: Dent 1913).

The Quest of the Ideal. (Fellowship Books 1913).

English Fairy Tales. (1913). *

In Wheelabout and Cockalone. (London: Harrap 1918). *

About Many Things. Essays (London: Methuen 1920).

The Children’s Garland of Verse. (Dent 1921).

Eleanor in the Loft. (London: J. Cape 1923).

A Little Philosophy of Love. (London: Chapman & Dodd 1923). *

A Celtic Anthology. (London: Harrap 1927).

A Book of Grace. Essays and Poems (Dent 1930).

The Magic Wood Beyond the World. (London: Harrap 1931). **

(** This is a reprint of  "In Wheelabout & Cockalone"(1918))

"English Fairy Tales - Tales for Children from Many Lands" by Ernest & Grace Rhys. Edited by F. C. Tilney. Illustrated by H. Cole & R. Anning Bell. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., London. 1949 edition.

Sources: "Roscommon Authors" by Helen Maher (1978)

"Ireland in Fiction" by S. J. Browne (1919)

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Rhys

"In Wheelabout & Cockalone"

George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London 1919.

With colour drawings by Margaret W. Tarrant ..

... and line drawings by Megan Rhys.

"A Little Philosophy of Love" Chapman & Dodd Ltd., London 1923.

We would like to have more material from this writer in our collection. If you have such material please contact us.