HEANEY, Seamus. The Spirit Level (Signed limited edition)

London: Faber and Faber, 1996. First edition, limited issue. .pp. 70. Special edition, one of 350 copies signed by the author, this being number 307. Finely bound in original grey paper-covered boards with black cloth spine and printed spine label. A fine copy.

A handsome limited edition of one of Seamus Heaney’s most celebrated late collections, issued in the year following the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Spirit Level contains some of the poet’s finest mature work, including “The Rain Stick,” “Keeping Going,” “The Strand,” and the celebrated sequence “Mycenae Lookout.” The collection explores themes of memory, violence, reconciliation, rural life and artistic inheritance with the extraordinary linguistic precision and moral depth that established Heaney as one of the defining literary voices of the twentieth century.

Published simultaneously with the trade edition, only 350 copies were specially bound and signed by Heaney for presentation to collectors and institutions. Scarce in this elegant state, particularly in such fine condition. Increasingly desirable as signed limited editions of Heaney’s major works become more difficult to source on the market. A distinguished example of an important Nobel laureate’s work in collectible form.

Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, with the Swedish Academy praising his poetry for its “lyrical beauty and ethical depth.” The Spirit Level is widely regarded as one of the key collections of his post-Nobel period.

[L3 8D]