HEANEY, Seamus. Beowulf. (Signed limited edition)

London: Faber and Faber, 1999. pp. ix, 106. Quarter russet cloth on cream boards, title in gilt on black morocco label on spine. Green paper-covered slipcase. Edition limited to 325 copies only, O/S (Out of Series), signed by Seamus Heaney. A fine copy in the original slipcase, the binding fresh and bright throughout, signed in black ink by Seamus Heaney on the limitation leaf.

Seamus Heaney’s acclaimed translation of Beowulf is considered one of the definitive modern versions of the Anglo-Saxon epic. It received the Whitbread Book of the Year Award (1999) and cemented Heaney’s reputation as one of the great poetic interpreters of classical and early vernacular texts.

Heaney’s celebrated translation transformed one of the foundational works of English literature for a modern readership while retaining the muscular cadence and alliterative power of the Old English original. Published four years after he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, it won the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year Award and is widely regarded as the definitive modern rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic. The limited edition is among the most desirable of all Heaney publications, particularly in copies outside the ordinary numbered sequence.

Brandes & Durkan A72a. An exceptional example of one of the finest signed limited editions of modern Irish literature, made especially desirable by its scarce out-of-series designation.

[L3 8E]