HEANEY, Seamus. Station Island (Signed first edition)

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1985. First American edition, first printing. 8vo. pp. 123. Original quarter green cloth over cream paper-covered boards, spine lettered in gilt, in the original illustrated dust jacket. Inscribed and dated by the author on the title page: “Seamus Heaney, 26.xi.’87.”

One of the Nobel Laureate’s most important collections, Station Island represents a decisive moment in Heaney’s literary development. Inspired by the ancient pilgrimage to St Patrick’s Purgatory on Lough Derg, the title sequence explores themes of memory, faith, artistic responsibility and the moral legacy of the Troubles through a series of visionary encounters. The volume also includes the celebrated Sweeney Redivivus cycle, reimagining the medieval Irish legend of the exiled king Sweeney. Frequently regarded as Heaney’s finest achievement before receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, the collection stands among the landmarks of twentieth-century Irish poetry.

A fine copy in the original dust jacket. Internally fresh and clean throughout. The author’s inscription, dated 26 November 1987, is bold and well positioned on the title page, enhancing the desirability of an already important work.

An inscribed first American edition of one of Heaney’s most celebrated collections, signed during the period in which his international reputation was rapidly reaching its height.

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