HEANEY, Seamus. Beowulf. A New Translation. Uncorrected Proof Copy, Signed by Heaney.

London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Octavo. pp. [viii], 106 (approx.). Original pale blue printed card wrappers lettered in black on upper cover and spine with Faber logo at foot. Rear cover with synopsis, publication details and ISBN (0-571-20113-X). Title-page signed in ink by Seamus Heaney. Internally clean and tight; faint rubbing to extremities and a minor mark to lower spine, otherwise a near-fine copy.

Issued in advance of the first edition for pre-publication review and publicity purposes, this Uncorrected Proof precedes the trade issue published on 4 October 1999. Printed in a small number for in-house and review circulation only, the proof differs typographically from the published text and lacks the bilingual formatting of the later American issue.

Heaney’s translation of Beowulf—his monumental rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic—was immediately acclaimed as a literary event, uniting scholarly fidelity with poetic resonance. It earned the Whitbread Book of the Year Award (1999) and remains the definitive modern version of the poem.

Proof copies are scarce, especially signed.  

[L3 8E]