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Saturday, November 06, 2004
[Irish Aires] - Read Ireland
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Irish Aires on KPFT-FM, 90.1FM Saturday Nights 6:30PM
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Read Ireland Book News - Issue 290
Anything Can Happen: A Poem and Essay by Seamus Heaney 186059235X –
Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 16.00 USD / 9.50 UK; 50 pages, with
endflaps
'Anything can happen' is the title of Seamus Heaney's translation
of an ode by Horace. Based on a Latin original written in Rome in
the first century BC, Heaney's version was composed in the
aftermath of September 11 and lets the reader hear 'the voice of an
individual in shock at what can happen in the world.' In an
accompanying essay, the poet reflects on the staying power of art
in the new geo-political contexts of the twenty-first century.
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Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: A Secret History by Colin Harper and
Trevor Hodgett 1903464455 – Hardback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD /
20.00 UK; 420 pages, with illustrations throughout
Irish Folk, Trad & Blues: A Secret History is a substantial work by
two Belfast authors and music journalists of long experience and
authority within their fields of interest. Aimed at filling a gap
in the literature on both the early years and the more recent
'ethnic fringes' of Irish musical history since the beginning of
the 'rock era' in the fifties, the book is designed to, hopefully,
both entertain and intrigue the casually interested and delight the
more serious music buff - with 420 pages, 180,000 words of text and
over 130 rarely seen photographs of the famed and the forgotten.
Scrupulously avoiding the use of footnotes and other trappings of
authorial solemnity, the book is nevertheless the result of many
years of insanely dedicated, rigorous and often painstaking work.
With much of the content adapted and expanded into a loosely
chronological 'patchwork narrative' from pieces originally
commissioned from the authors by a wide range of newspapers and
magazines (spanning 1975-2004) it is at once an anthology of the
modern music writer at work and a treasury or tales which reveal
the frustrations and celebrate the triumphs of those whose trails
were blazed at a time before the Irish music industry, in any
meaningful sense, even existed. Forgotten heroes and the first
steps of latterday legends intertwine with illustrious visitors,
like Arlo Guthrie, who took something of Ireland away with them.
Homegrown pioneers from Ottilie Patterson in the fifties through
Sweeney's Men in the sixties and on to the likes of Horslips,
Mellow Candle, Skid Row, Clannad, Rory Gallagher, Paddy Keenan,
Shaun Davey and Martin Hayes are all given their place in the sun.
And, rescued at last from the shadow of Van, the further and long-
lingering adventures of Them are finally told. Somewhere in
between, the shadowy yet seminal influences of near-mythical
figures like Anne Briggs and Davy Graham, from England, are
revealed alongside – 30 years apart – first hand descriptions of
the first and last Irish visits (to Belfast) of Muddy Waters, the
godfather of Chicago blues, and John Fahey, the singular creator of
the fingerstyle guitar industry. Appreciations of Cara Dillon and
Colin Reid, Northern folk heroes of the present day, and Trevor
Hodgett's Python-esque attempts to gain access to a 'secret' Bob
Dylan club show in Dublin bring things whimsically, and
affectionately, up to date.
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Something Beginning with P: New Poems from Irish Poets edited by
Seamus Cashman and Illustrated by Corrina Askin and Alan Clarke
0862788684 – Hardback in Gift Slipcase; 30.00 Euro / 36.00 USD /
20.00 UK; 160 pages
This fabulous anthology, a carnival of poems, is filled with
laughter, magic, excitement and energy from over 100 Irish poets,
including Seamus Heaney, Rita Ann Higgins, Brendan Kennelly, Thomas
Kinsella, Michael Longley, Medbh McGuckian, John Montague, Paul
Muldoon, Julie O'Callagha, Cathal O Searcaigh, Moya Cannon, Dennis
O'Driscoll, Mary O'Malley, Frank Ormsby, Michael Smith and Matthew
Sweeney.
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The New Irish Poets edited by Selina Guinness 1852246731 – Trade
Paperback; 18.00 Euro / 23.00 USD / 11.00 UK; 336 pages
Selina Guinness's lively selection covers over 30 poets of all ages
from all parts of Ireland who have established themselves over the
last ten years. It offers rare insights into how the freshest
writing talents have responded to a period of profound social,
cultural and political change in the Republic and in Northern
Ireland. Dynamic and confident in their diverse voices - whether
conversational, caustic or solemn in tone - these poets open up the
world to unexpected horizons, unsuspected pleasures and surprising
conclusions. The book supplies a new measure for Ireland in the
coming times. The New Irish Poets features all of the prominent new
poets who have received major awards and international critical
recognition as well as giving a platform to less well known writers
published by small presses. Illustrated with photographs and
helpful editorial commentaries, the book includes a parallel- text
selection of poems by three new Irish language poets. Nearly half
the poets are women, and there's a broad mix of young and old,
ranging from Fergus Allen, now in his 80s - to the youngest, Leanne
O'Sullivan. With its wide-ranging, up-to-the-minute selections, The
New Irish Poets bears witness to the flourishing of contemporary
Irish poetry over the past decade.
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Sailing for Home: A Voyage from Antigua to Kinsale, Ireland by Theo
Dorgan 1844880486 – Hardback; 24.00 Euro / 29.00 USD / 18.00 UK;
282 pages
What happens when four people three old sea hands and a novice (the
author) cross the Atlantic aboard a 70-foot schooner? Theo Dorgan's
logbook of the voyage of the Spirit of Oysterhaven from the
Caribbean to the coast of Co. Cork is meditative, philosophical,
and utterly absorbing. Dorgan captures the quotidian realities of a
trans-Atlantic passage the importance of innumerable small rituals,
the challenge of cooking in rough seas, the unspoken understandings
that develop between crew members but he also attends to the
numinous possibilities of life at sea: the rare vividness of
dreams, visits from the ghosts of dead friends. By turns richly
comic and deeply moving, Sailing for Home is the story of a mental
and spiritual adventure as much as a physical one, a chronicle of
an ordinary encounter between man and sea.
----
Barleycorn Blues by Lee Dunne 1842232126 – Paperback; 10.00 Euro /
12.00 USD / 7.50 UK; 358 pages
This novel explodes into life when Irish-writer Joe Collins, a
successful writer ruled by alcoholism, collides with hopeless drunk
photographer Telly Sampras outside an AA meeting in New York. The
two men decide to join forces to beat their addiction, but their
willpower is severely tested when the encounter two captivating
women with weaknesses of their own. In no time Joe and Telly find
themselves entangled with political corruption, hit men, and a
ménage a trios and start breaking their own rules.
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New Sinn Fein: Irish Republicanism in the 21st Century by Agnes
Maillot 0415321972 – Trade Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD /
20.00 UK; 210 pages
Sinn Fein is a unique political party, not only within Irish
politics, but also within the wider European context. It boasts a
long revolutionary tradition, an historical affiliation with an
armed group, a social radicalism and a vision of society that has
inspired other parties and movements throughout the world. As a
consequence of Sinn Fein's connection with the IRA, the military
side of the republican movement has tended to overshadow the
political, both in terms of its internal operation and strategic
choices and in terms of the attention that it has attracted from
scholars, writers and journalists. However, since the 1998 Good
Friday Agreement, Sinn Fein has experienced substantial growth, in
terms of electoral results and party support, both in Northern
Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. This book assesses the
importance and relevance of Sinn F?in within the changing
configurations of Irish politics, studying it as a political party
on both sides of the Irish border. It investigates whether Sinn
Fein can sustain the progress made over the last decade, retain its
identity as the voice of radical republicanism, and ultimately,
whether its vision of a united Ireland can pr Containing interviews
with key figures, such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, New
Sinn Fein is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Irish
politics, and the republican movement in particular.
----
Deceptions by June Considine 1904301606 – Trade Paperback; 15.00
Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 360 pages
What will a woman do when all she has left is her past? When a
torrid love affair shakes the very foundations of Lorraine
Cheevers' world, she flees to Trabawn, a seaside idyll of innocent
childhood summers. Meanwhile a teenage boy lies in a coma in his
hospital bed. Michael Carmody is desperately searching for the
people who put him there and justice for his son. His search leads
him to Trabawn and to a powerful, unexpected attraction. As time
stands still for the young Killian, it threatens to run out for a
man and woman trying to put right their shattered pasts … unless
the truth is exposed, once and for all. This book is a gripping
and heart-wrenching novel about truth and illusion and the
passionate shadows that lurk beneath the quietest of lives.
----
Pursuit by Brian Gallagher 1842231367 – Paperback; 9.00 Euro /
11.00 USD / 7.00 UK; 593 pages
When journalist Laura Kennedy hears of a deathbed confession her
investigative instincts kick into action. Which is bad news for
Daniel Trenet, former mercenary, and now a successful
industrialist. But Trenet hasn't built up a profitable business
empire in international arms-dealing only to allow it to be
threatened – and with it his luxurious lifestyle. When Steve
Johnson – millionaire, former kidnap victim, and one of the new
American owners of the Sunday Clarion – decides to accompany Laura
on her mission, neither of them realizes the dangers they'll face
when Trenet unleashes the ruthless Ricardo Perez onto their trail.
Another edge-of-the-seat thriller from Ireland's leading thriller
writer.
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Irish Regiments in the Great War: Discipline and Moral by Timothy
Bowman 0719062853 – Trade Paperback; 20.00 Euro / 25.00 USD / 13.00
UK; 237 pages
The British army was almost unique among the European armies of the
Great War in that it did not suffer from a serious breakdown of
discipline or collapse of morale. It did, however, inevitably
suffer from disciplinary problems. While attention has hitherto
focused on the 312 notorious 'shot at dawn' cases, many thousands
of British soldiers were tried by court martial during the Great
War.
This book provides the first comprehensive study of discipline and
morale in the British army during the Great War by using a case-
study of the Irish regiments. It considers the wartime experience
of the Irish regular and Special Reserve battalions and the 10th
(Irish), 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions. The book
demonstrates that breaches of discipline did occur in the Irish
regiments during the period but in most cases these were of a minor
nature. Controversially, Timothy Bowman suggests that where
executions did take place, they were militarily necessary and
served the purpose of restoring discipline in failing units. The
author also shows that there was very little support for the
emerging Sinn Fein movement within the Irish regiments.
----
Revolutions by Lory Manrique-Hyland 1903305136 – Paperback; 10.00
Euro / 12.50 USD / 7.00 UK; 208 pages
Marysol Castillo is a Cuban-American girl living in Miami. Haunted
by the loss of the homeland, her parents and friends imagine their
little two-bedroom homes to be Santa Clara cattle ranches, many-
acre estates, and Marianao mansions. Marysol sees herself as 'an
American with no pedigree.' But when she begins to ask her
grandmother about the past, Marysol embarks on an emotional journey
that will shatter her sense of who she really is. This book won
the 2004 Irish Evening Herald Today FM paperback writer
competition.
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Collected Poems of Anthony Cronin 190430155X – Paperback; 20.00
Euro / 24.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 330 pages
This book brings together the work of a poetic lifetime by this
celebrated Irish poet, from his first book published in 1957 to his
most recent published in 1999, as well as a number of new poems.
This landmark collection displays Cronin's innate lyrical gift, his
honesty to human experience, his range, his always immanent humour
and sheer poetic intelligence. This comprehensive and
authoritative collection also includes the longer compositions that
have been a notable part of his poetic practice – from 'RMS
Titanic' to 'The End of the Modern World'.
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The Georgics of Virgil by Peter Fallon 1852353643 – Paperback;
14.00 Euro ; 17.00 USD / 9.50 UK; 128 pages
To read this great work is to feel earthed as well as engrossed.
The poet handles 'The Georgics' with the expertise and empathy of a
poet conversant with farm life. Each individual line glistens like
a newly turned furrow. Both the fact-filled plains and the sublime
heights of Virgil's work are compellingly rendered and the poem
flows so freely and lyrically one soon forgets it is a translation.
(Also available in Hardback priced at 20 Euro)
----
No Earthly Estate: God and Patrick Kavanagh an Anthology by Tom
Stack 1856074773 – Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 16.00 USD / 9.00 UK; 237
pages
In this unusual but immensely rewarding book, the author combines
an anthology of Kavanagh's more religiously inflected poems with a
series of informed reflections on the poem's theological
implications.
----
Available Again:
The Captains and the Kings by Jennifer Johnston 0747259348 –
Paperback; 12.00 Euro / 15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 152 pages
An Irish Classic! Old Mr Prendergast lives in the gloomy splendour
of a family mansion. He remembers his loveless marriage, his ghost
of a father, and, with bitterness, his bejewelled mother, who
lavished love on his brother. Then young Diarmid arrives, offering
him gifts of curiosity, innocence and friendship.
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Dear Maeve by Maeve Binchy 185371531X – Paperback; 8.00 Euro /
10.00 USD / 5.00 UK; 210 pages
How do you tell someone that they've tucked their skirts into their
knickers? Should you correct your wife when she says 'Commodium'
instead of 'condominium'? What should you do if you see your son-
in-law nuzzling a woman, not your daughter, at a nearby lunch
table? Ireland's Maeve Binchy takes a subtle glance at the
practical problems that confront us all. Behind the apparent
ordinariness, the airy grace and fluent style lies genuine wisdom.
----
Last Copies: Reduced in Price:
Irish History:
The Year of Liberty by Thomas Pakenham: Full Price 18 Euro, Reduced
Price 9 Euro
Researching Down Ancestors by Ian Maxwell: Full Price 20 Euro,
Reduced Price 8 Euro
Do Penance or Perish: A Study of Magdalen Asylums in Ireland
(Hardback) by Frances Finnegan: Full Price 40 Euro, Reduced Price
20 Euro
Eyewitness Bloody Sunday by Don Mullen: Full Price 15 Euro, Reduced
Price 8 Euro
Breaking Ground: Story of William Mulvany by John O'Sullivan: Full
Price 15 Euro, Reduced Price 8 Euro
Racism and Anti-Racism in Ireland by Ronit Lentin and Robbie
McVeigh: Full Price 22.50 Euro, Reduced Price 15 Euro
The End of Catholicism? By Vincent Twomey: Full Price 15 Euro,
Reduced Price 7 Euro
Irish Literature:
Ourselves Alone by Anne Devlin: Full Price 12 Euro, Reduced Price 6
Euro
Irish Biography:
Hanna Sheehy Skeffington A Life by Margaret Ward: Full Price 25
Euro, Reduced Price 17 Euro
A Writer's Life by Criostoir O'Flynn: Full Price 12.70 Euro,
Reduced Price 4 Euro
Becoming George: The Life of Mrs. W.B. Yeats by Ann Saddlemyer:
Full Price 26 Euro, Reduced Price 10 Euro
From the Old Waterford House: Recollections of a Soldier and an
Artist by Arthur Power: Full Price 15 Euro, Reduced Price 4 Euro
Disappeared Off the Face of the Earth by Jim Cairns: Full Price 15
Euro, Reduced Price 4 Euro
Adult Fiction:
Grace Notes (Hardback, First Edition) by Bernard Mac Laverty: Full
Price 20 Euro, Reduced Price 8 Euro
Sunrise with Sea Monster by Neil Jordan: Full Price13 Euro, Reduced
Price 7 Euro
Night in Tunisia by Neil Jordan: Full Price 12 Euro, Reduced Price
6 Euro
The Captain with the Whiskers (Hardback) by Benedict Kiely: Full
Price 25 Euro, Reduced Price 15 Euro
Lemon Soap: Fiction and Poetry Anthology: Full Price 12.50 Euro,
Reduced Price 5 Euro
Nightspawn (Hardback) by John Banville: Full Price 20 Euro, Reduced
Price 8 Euro
Standard Time by Keith Ridgway: Full Price 11 Euro, Reduced Price 5
Euro
The Parts (Hardback First Edition) by Keith Ridgway: Full Price 30
Euro, Reduced Price 10 Euro
The Eskimo in the Net by Gerard Beirne: Full Price 10 Euro, Reduced
Price 4 Euro
Another Season by Anna Dillon: Full Price 11.50 Euro, Reduced Price
6 Euro
Expecting Emily by Clare Dowling: Full Price 10 Euro, Reduced Price
5.50 Euro
Children's Fiction:
What Your See Is What You Get by Rosemary Fuller: Full Price 8
Euro, Reduced Price 4 Euro
Benny and Omar by Eoin Colfer: Full Price 8.50 Euro, Reduced Price
4.50 Euro
Artemis Fowl Seventh Dwarf by Eoin Colfer: Full Price 3 Euro,
Reduced Price 1.50 Euro
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Highlights from Last Week: Read Ireland Book News - Issue 289
Collision Culture: Transformations in Everyday Life in Ireland by
Kieran Keohane and Carmen Kuhling Trade Paperback; 17.00 Euro /
20.00 USD / 12.00 UK; 204 pages
The central premise of this book is that Ireland's experience of
'economic boom' has resulted in the collision of incompatible ways
of life.
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Reds and the Green: Ireland, Russia and the Communist
Internationals, 1919-43 by Emmet O'Connor Trade Paperback; 25.00
Euro / 30.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 260 pages
Based on former Soviet archives, Reds and the Green shows why Irish
Marxists and republicans turned repeatedly to Russia for support
and inspiration, what Moscow wanted from Ireland, and how the
Comintern was able to direct an Irish political party. (Also
available in Hardback priced at 50 Euro)
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Medicine and Charity in Ireland 1718-1851 by Laurence Geary Trade
Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 241 pages
In this illuminating social history of medicine and charity in
Ireland over a period of almost 150 years, the author focuses on
the plight of the poor and in the process underlines the close
relationship between illness and poverty. (Also available in
hardback priced at 50 Euro)
----
The Information Revolution and Ireland by Lee Komito Trade
Paperback; 22.00 Euro / 27.00 USD / 15.00 UK; 222 pages
This book explores the implications of information and
communications technologies for social and cultural change.
----
Keeping It Real: Irish Film and Television edited by Ruth Barton
and Harvey O'Brien Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 18.00 UK;
210 pages
This timely collection of essays considers the nature and direction
of Irish film and television, and also explores the contributions
of other media including radio and the internet to contemporary
Irish culture
----
The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in Documentary Film by
Harvey O'Brien Paperback; 25.00 Euro / 30.00 USD / 18.00 UK; 352
pages
This book is the first full-length study of Irish documentary film.
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Retrospection of Dorothy Herbert, 1770-1806 Paperback; 12.50 Euro /
15.00 USD / 8.00 UK; 434 pages
Dorothy Herbert wrote these 'Retrospections' as a diary, a form of
personal therapy much needed after her thwarted love affair with
the handsome John Roe of Rockwell House in County Tipperary.
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Walking the Mist: Celtic Spirituality for the 21st Century by
Donald McKinney Paperback; 17.50 Euro / 22.50 USD / 11.00 UK; 235
pages
In this book the reader discovers the magic, wisdom and profound
spirituality of the Ancient Celts for a more peaceful and
purposeful life today.
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The Grand Tour of Limerick by Cornelius Kelly Paperback; 15.00 Euro
/ 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 230 pages, with black-and-white photos and
illustrations throughout
This book explores County Limerick through the eyes of sixty- four
visitors.
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The Grand Tour of Kerry by Penelope Durell and Cornelius Kelly
Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 230 pages, with
black-and-white photos and illustrations throughout
This book brings together their impressions – from Giraldus
Cambrensis in the 12th century to Robert Mitchum nearly 800 years
later
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How Far We Have Travelled: The Voice of Marry Holland edited by
Mary Maher Paperback; 13.00 Euro / 16.00 USD / 9.50 UK; 256 pages
This collection of Mary Holland's work, drawn largely from her
weekly column in the Irish Times, records Ireland's passage through
the last three turbulent decades from the viewpoint of one of the
most influential journalists in 20th century journalism in Ireland.
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My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress: An Irish Childhood in the 1960s b
Christina McKenna Trade Paperback; 15.00 Euro / 18.00 USD / 10.00
UK; 242 pages
This memoir is a tale of two generations of Irish women. Sparkling
with wit and compassion, the book tells the story of a mother and
daughter, one bound by the constrictions of 1960s Ireland, the
other struggling desperately to escape both it and the heartless
father who has blighted her life.
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The Castles of South Munster by Mike Salter Paperback; 17.50 Euro /
21.00 USD / 12.00 UK; 130 pages
This book is a comprehensive guide to castles, fortified houses,
bawns and town defences in the counties of Cork, Kerry and
Waterford, which make up the southern half of the province of
Munster.
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The Castles of Ulster by Mike Salter Paperback; 10.00 Euro / 12.50
USD / 7.00 UK; 72 pages
This book is a comprehensive guide castles, fortified houses, bawns
and town defences in the nine northern counties which make up the
province of Ulster.
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The Castles of Leinster by Mike Salter Paperback; 20.00 Euro /
25.00 USD / 14.00 UK; 200 pages
This book is a comprehensive guide castles, fortified houses, bawns
and town defences in the twelve counties of the eastern and south-
eastern parts of Ireland which make up the province of Leinster.
----
The Castles of Connacht by Mike Salter Paperback; 15.00 Euro /
20.00 USD / 10.00 UK; 106 pages
This book is a comprehensive guide castles, fortified houses, bawns
and town defences in the five counties of Galway, Mayo, Leitrim,
Roscommon and Sligo which make up the province of Connacht.
----
Today in Irish History (6 November): Owen Roe O'Neill, a Catholic
Confederate against Crowell, died, in 1649.
Thank you for your continued support! It is important that if You
are considering ordering any of these books that you do so through
Read Ireland in order that the newsletter continues!
To order books from the Read Ireland Book Review you can send an
email to the order department at: greg@readireland.ie Please be
sure to include your mailing address and credit card details.
You can also post your order to: Read Ireland, 392 Clontarf Road,
Clontarf, Dublin 3, Ireland. Telephone and Facsimile number is:
+353-1-830-2997. Read Ireland Web Site Home Page:
http://www.readireland.com
All Prices and Rates are in Euro (US Dollar and UK Sterling prices
are guidelines based on current exchange rates.) Euro prices on
books reviewed above are firm. Post + package is charged at cost.
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