HEANEY, Seamus. The Door Stands Open: Czeslaw Milosz 1911-2004 (Signed limited edition)

Dublin: Irish Writers’ Centre / Book Art Museum, Łódź, 2005. First edition, signed limited edition. A remarkable and highly artistic tribute by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney to fellow Nobel Prize-winning poet Czesław Miłosz. Printed and produced in Poland by the Book Art Museum, Łódź, this extraordinary publication combines poetry, essay, typography, handmade paper, and mixed-media presentation into one of the most visually arresting Heaney productions of the early twenty-first century.

Condition: Fine copy in the original black folding case and original printed wrapper. Signed by Seamus Heaney and numbered 199 of 250 copies.

Limited to 250 signed copies, this example is numbered 199 and signed by Seamus Heaney. The work contains two poems and an essay written in memory of Miłosz, including Saw Music, published here for the first time. The poems are hand-set in Antykwa Toruńska type and printed on handwoven Polish paper with naturally deckled edges, giving the work a sculptural and tactile quality rarely encountered in modern Irish literary publishing.

Housed in the publisher’s striking black folding case printed with Heaney’s facsimile signature in silver, the volume is accompanied by the original mixed-media wrapping incorporating collaged Polish newspaper reports issued following the death of Miłosz. The design and execution reflect the collaboration between Heaney, Cathal McCabe, and Polish book artist Paweł Tryzno, creating a deeply personal and international homage linking Irish and Polish literary culture.

The publication was issued in both special and deluxe formats, the latter limited to only fifty copies with elaborate glass slipcases. The present signed edition remains highly desirable in its own right due to the fragility and conceptual nature of the production, with surviving examples in complete condition increasingly scarce on the market.

An exceptional modern Irish fine press production and one of the most unusual signed Seamus Heaney items issued during his lifetime.

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