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NEWSFEATURES:The Irish poet Richard Murphy is selling his library through a London dealer, with one of the rarest items a copy of a Sebastian Barry book that was pulped under threat of a libel action

EARLIER THIS month, London dealers Maggs Bros Rare Books, established in 1853 and one of the world's oldest and largest antiquarian booksellers, sent out catalogues detailing the 586 books on sale from the poet Richard Murphy's private library. The collection had originally been offered as a unit, with the hope that an institution such as a library might buy it. However, since many of the books were duplicates of what libraries already held, and with acquisition budgets being cut, no organisation came forward to buy the collection.