HEANEY, Seamus. HUGHES, Ted. FRY, Christopher. & BROWN, G.M. Four Poets for Saint Magnus (One of only 100 copies)

Illustrated by Rona Caffrey. Orkney: The Breckness Press, 1987. Folio. pp. [vi], 28. Quarter parchment on terracotta cloth boards, gilt lettering on spine, with green cloth slipcase bearing pictorial label. Limited edition of 500 numbered copies printed on Glastonbury Antique Laid paper, this being No. 6, signed by all four poets on the limitation page. Fine in fine slipcase.

A fine copy of this beautiful production issued to commemorate the 850th anniversary of St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney. Designed by Will Carter and printed at the Rampant Lions Press, Cambridge, the book was conceived as a modern poetic tribute to the saint and to the cultural legacy of the Northern Isles. The contents include The Kirk and the Ship by George Mackay Brown, The Zodiac in the Shape of a Crown by Ted Hughes, In Memoriam by Seamus Heaney, and Hymn at Lauds by Christopher Fry, preceded by an historical introduction. The text is adorned with delicate stippled illustrations by Rona Caffrey, inspired by the Romanesque carvings of the Cathedral.

One of the most celebrated collaborative volumes of late twentieth-century poetry, Four Poets for St Magnus unites four major voices of the English language in a single artistic and spiritual homage. Copies signed by all four poets are scarce and highly sought after.

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