Memoirs of  James O'Neil

With Wood Engravings by Michael McGarvey

Port Press, 2015

"We used to sit by the window to listen to the grind organ man. We would sing a song that described our life. The boys made it up when they heard Home Sweet Home. We just changed the words.

I'm a poor little beggar boy.

My mother she is dead.

I sit by the window to hear the organ play.

God bless my poor mother.

I hope she is in heaven today."

   With simple and direct prose these memoirs trace James O'Neil's childhood life from St.Joseph's Provident Orphan Asylum home, to his coming of age while attempting to overcome cruelty and adversity at the hands of the "Mr. and Mrs." at a farm in Ottawa Illinois.

  This edition of The Orphans' Song; Memoirs of James O'Neil with Wood Engravings by Michael McGarvey is limited to one hundred copies, numbered and signed by the artist. It was designed and printed at the Port Press, Port Republic, New Jersey. The type is hand-set Bodoni Semi- Bold cast by M&H Type. The paper is Zerkall Book, printed damp on a Hoe Washington iron handpress. The edition is hand-bound at the Cambell Logan Bindery Inc., Minnesota.

60 pages, seven wood engravings. $300.00