George Roberts (publisher) George Roberts (publisher) George Roberts (1873–1953) was an Irish actor, poet and publisher. He was born in Belfast and became an actor with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He co-founded the publishing house of Maunsel and Company with Stephen Gwynn and Joseph Maunsel Hone. This firm published works by W. B. Yeats, John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, George William Russell, James Stephens, Douglas Hyde and others and became part of the Irish Literary Revival. Between 1909 and 1912, when he visited Dublin, Joyce negotiated with Roberts to publish his book Dubliners, but their contract was not fulfilled, owing to a series
Dublin lock-out in the way that Murphy attempted to with the ITGWU. The lock-out had damaged commercial businesses in Dublin, with many forced to declare bankruptcy. "September 1913", one of the most famous of W. B. Yeats' poems, was published in the Irish Times during the lock-out. Although the occasion of the poem was the decision of Dublin Corporation not to build a gallery to house the Hugh Lane collection of paintings (William Martin Murphy being one of the most vocal opponents of the plan), it has sometimes been viewed by scholars as a commentary on the lock-out. In the poem, Yeats