HEANEY, Seamus. Selected Poems 1966–1987. (Signed limited edition)

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990. Limited signed edition, one of 200 numbered copies signed by Seamus Heaney on the limitation leaf, this being copy no. 46. 8vo. pp. [8], 273. Original publisher’s brown cloth, upper cover blocked in blind with Heaney’s monogram, black morocco-backed spine with gilt lettering, housed in the original black cloth slipcase. A fine copy.

Issued to coincide with the American publication of Heaney’s landmark Selected Poems, this finely produced limited edition gathers work from the poet’s first eight collections, spanning Death of a Naturalist (1966) to The Haw Lantern (1987). It traces the remarkable evolution of one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets, from the richly observed rural landscapes of County Derry to the moral, political and philosophical meditations that established Heaney as an international literary figure.

Published three years before Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, signed limited editions from this period are among the most desirable of his books. Restricted to just 200 copies, the edition is considerably scarcer than the trade issue and is particularly sought after by collectors of modern Irish literature.

[L3 8F]