Keane, John B. Fifty Years Young. A tribute to John B. Keane. Edited by John M. Feehan. (Signed limited edition)

Cork & Dublin: The Mercier Press, 1979. First edition, limited issue of 500 copies. Small 8vo. pp. 101. Original publisher’s tan cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in burgundy with portrait device to centre. A very good copy. Presentation inscription on the front free endpaper: “To Des — With thanks & appreciation. John B. Keane.”

A commemorative collection of essays issued to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of the celebrated Irish playwright and novelist John B. Keane, one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century Irish literature. The volume gathers contributions from a number of writers and critics reflecting on Keane’s life, work, and remarkable popularity with Irish readers and theatre audiences. In the introduction, the editor notes the unique position Keane occupied in Irish letters: despite frequent critical neglect, his books and plays enjoyed extraordinary public success.

This edition was privately issued in a limited printing of only 500 copies, giving the work a modestly scarce status among Keane material.

John B. Keane (1928–2002), long associated with Listowel, County Kerry, achieved lasting fame through plays such as The Field, Sive, and Big Maggie, works that captured the rhythms, humour, and tensions of rural Irish life. Books relating to Keane, particularly those with authorial inscriptions, remain sought after by collectors of Irish literary and theatrical history.

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