Irish Books Are Tribute to Princess

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — They’re still trying to break the bank at the casino here.

On the other side of the harbor, however, in Monacoville, the old part of the city, where the cobbled streets lead to the palace of Prince Ranier III, and where the old language, Monegasque, still is spoken, there stands one of those anachronisms that defy all cliches.

The brass plate on the wall of No. 9 Rue Princess Marie de Lorraine reads “Princess Grace Irish Library.” Inside the old, three-story villa, the library is managed by a man who is as unlikely as the collection he serves.

George Sandulesco is “Greek by origin, Romanian by birth, Swedish by nationality, British by education, Italian by profession (he lectures in the English department at the University of Turin) and Monegasque by residence.”

In 1983 he was asked by Prince Rainier to look at a most extraordinary collection--the Irish books of the prince’s late wife, formerly Grace Kelly of Philadelphia and the County Mayo Kellys.

Assembled in two beautifully carved bookcases in the princess’ study was an eclectic group of tomes, including sheet music of popular Irish ditties, works by William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and Jonathan Swift, along with works on Irish history, politics, geography and folklore.

The princess’ interest in Irish literature was no surprise to Sandulesco. In 1982, just before the princess’ death in a automobile accident, he had helped organize a Joyce day in Monaco and had invited her to attend.

“She came at 3 o’clock and we expected her to stay at most a couple of hours,” he said. “She finally left at midnight and she’d taken part in all the literary discussions, but we didn’t know that she’d been collecting Irish books.”

Following her visit to Ireland in 1961, Kelly developed an avid interest in her Irish roots and began collecting the books.

The idea of creating the library, which opened in 1984, as a memorial was encouraged by two of the princess’ close friends--Monaco residents Virginia Gallico, widow of American writer Paul Gallico, who had served as the princess’ lady in waiting, and novelist and critic Anthony Burgess.

Replicas of the bookcases that had originally housed the collection in the palace were made, containing the books in the same haphazard uncatalogued way they had stood in her study.

The library has been enlarged by a donation from the palace’s own library, including a rare 17th-Century atlas in Spanish of the Irish countryside, complete with detailed maps.

It also has received about 300 volumes as a gift from the Irish government. Irish exiles abroad also have sent their work as gifts, the most famous being Samuel Beckett. Now it is seeking collections from around the world.

The library is the site of monthly lectures on Irish literary topics. These are by invitation only and are sent out on elegant white and green cards with the princess’ monogram, which also appears on the bookplates in the books.

A seminar is held every May. The one on Joyce attracted 35 of the leading Joyceans from around the world.

Visitors to the Princess Grace Irish Library are welcome, by appointment only. Write to the library, No. 9 Rue Princess Marie de Lorraine, Monte Carlo, Monaco. Hours: 2 to 6 p.m. every day. Admission is free. The library is closed in July and August.