HEANEY, Seamus. Τα Αλφάβητα του Seamus Heaney [The Alphabet(s) of​ Seamus Heaney] (Limited edition of only 26 copies)

Greece: 2000. Folio. pp. 83, [2]. Specially bound in half brown​ niger oasis over marbled boards by Stella Georgiou, title and author in gilt direct.​ One of 26 signed copies on handmade Amalfi 340 gsm paper, lettered A-Z (Latin​ alphabet). [This is copy U]. Colophon signed by Seamus Heaney, Stratis Haviaras,​ and Dimitris Hatzis. Housed in a wheaten cloth clamshell box, titled in Greek on​ brown morocco label. A fine copy of the extremely rare Latin alphabet issue.

Suite of tissue-guarded mezzotints by Dimitris Hatzis​ accompanying Seamus Heaney’s poem “Alphabets” in the Greek translation by​ Stratis Haviaras.

A fine press collaboration uniting Nobel Laureate Heaney with the Greek-​American poet Haviaras and printmaker Hatzis; printed on richly textured Amalfi​ and produced to a very high standard. Heaney’s single poem Alphabets first​ appeared in 1984 and later in The Haw Lantern (1987). It charts the poet’s​ journey from the childhood classroom, where letters are first learned, to adult​ vision, where language becomes a lens on history, art and identity. This Greek​ livre d’artiste is among the most striking stand-alone presentations of the poem:​ Hatzis’s mezzotints echo the poem’s movement from graphite and school-slate to​ astronomical and scriptorial scale, while Haviaras’s translation carries Heaney’s​ sonic play into Greek with enviable poise. The tripartite limitation (numbered​ trade on 200 gsm; lettered deluxe​ on 340 gsm; and a grand folio Α–Ω) mirrors the​ poem’s three sections and makes the work particularly desirable to Heaney​ collectors and to connoisseurs of modern Greek fine printing. Copies signed by​ all three collaborators are extremely rare, especially the lettered issues and in such​ fine crisp condition.

[L1 7 Ledge]