10 Pounds 1997, Ireland
| in Banknotes Book | Number: E157 |
| Years of issue: | 06.05.1997 |
| Edition: | -- |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. Muiris S. O'Conaill, Secretary of the Department of Finance: Mr. P. H. Mullarkey |
| Serie: | Serie С 1992 - 2002 |
| Specimen of: | 14.07.1993 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 128 х 68 |
| Printer: | Central Bank of Ireland Printworks, Central Bank Currency Centre, Dublin |
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Description
Watermark:
Lady Hazel Lavery (second wife of the famous painter Sir John Lavery).
She is a personification of Ireland on Irish banknotes Serie A.
Denomination in numeral 10.
Avers:
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 - 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominent among these the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His complete oeuvre also includes three books of poetry, a play, occasional journalism, and his published letters.
On background are the neighborhoods of Dublin and Wicklow, in particular Dublin Bay.
Dublin Bay (Irish: Cuan Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. The bay is about 10 kilometers wide along its north-south base, and 7 km. in length to its apex at the center of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sand banks lay, and features a 5 km. long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognized wildfowl reserve.
Denomination in numeral is in top right corner. Centered in words.
Revers:
On left side is a mask of river spirit of the River Liffey (An Life, Liffey) - river in Ireland, which flows through the center of Dublin. The main tributaries - Dodder, Poddl and Camac. The river flows into Dublin Bay and the Irish Sea.
It is one of a 14 masks hanging on the building "The Custom House", in Dublin. Made by Edward Smyth.
The Custom House (Irish: Teach an Chustaim) is a neoclassical XVIII-century building in Dublin, Ireland which houses the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. It is located on the north bank of the River Liffey, on Custom House Quay between Butt Bridge and Talbot Memorial Bridge.
The building of a new Custom House for Dublin was the idea of John Beresford, who became first commissioner of revenue for Ireland in 1780. In 1781 he appointed James Gandon as architect, after Thomas Cooley, the original architect on the project, had died. This was Gandon's first large scale commission. The new Custom House was unpopular with the Dublin Corporation and some city merchants who complained that it moved the axis of the city, would leave little room for shipping, and it was being built on what at the time was a swamp. Purchase of land was delayed and proved exorbitant and the laying of foundations was disrupted by the High Sheriff and members of the Dublin Corporation with a mob of several thousand. However, Beresford was determined to complete the project and ignored the protests.
For his assistants Gandon chose Irish artists such as Meath stone-cutter Henry Darley, mason John Semple and carpenter Hugh Henry. Every available mason in Dublin was engaged in the work. When it was completed and opened for business on 7 November 1791, it cost £200,000 to build - a huge sum at the time. The four facades of the building are decorated with coats-of-arms and ornamental sculptures (by Edward Smyth) representing Ireland's rivers. Another artist, Henry Banks, was responsible for the statue on the dome and other statues.
As the port of Dublin moved further downriver, the building's original use for collecting custom duties became obsolete, and it was used as the headquarters of local government in Ireland. During the Irish War of Independence in 1921, the Irish Republican Army burnt down the Custom House, in an attempt to disrupt British rule in Ireland. Gandon's original interior was completely destroyed in the fire and the central dome collapsed. A large quantity of irreplaceable historical records were also destroyed in the fire. Despite achieving its objectives, the attack on the Custom House was a setback for the IRA as a large number of Volunteers were captured either during the attack or when falling back.
After the Anglo-Irish Treaty, it was restored by the Irish Free State government. The results of this reconstruction can still be seen on the building's exterior today - the dome was rebuilt using Irish Ardbraccan limestone which is noticeably darker than the Portland stone used in the original construction. This was done as an attempt to promote Irish resources.
Further restoration and cleaning of the stonework was done by an Office of Public Works team in the 1980s. 
On background are the map of Dublin of XIX century. Also - a quote from James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake".
The quote: "....riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
That is the last sentence of the novel's Book 1.
"Finnegans Wake" is a work of comic prose by Irish writer James Joyce which is significant for its experimental style and the resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of seventeen years, and published in 1939, two years before the author's death, Finnegans Wake was Joyce's final work. The entire book is written in a largely idiosyncratic language, consisting of a mixture of standard English lexical items and neologistic multilingual puns and portmanteau words, which many critics believe attempts to recreate the experience of sleep and dreams. Owing to the work's expansive linguistic experiments, stream of consciousness writing style, literary allusions, free dream associations, and its abandonment of the conventions of plot and character construction, Finnegans Wake remains largely unread by the general public.
Denominations in words and in numeral are in lower right corner.
Comments:
Designer: Robert Ballagh.
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