MCDONAGH, John (ed.). A Fine Statement: An Irish Poets’ Anthology (signed and dated by Seamus Heaney)

Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 2008.

First edition. 8vo. pp. xiii, 305. Original blue cloth, titles gilt to spine, blue silk marker ribbon. Presentation copy, signed and dated by Seamus Heaney on the front free endpaper: “Seamus Heaney / 6 April 2012. ”A fine copy.

A particularly attractive anthology of contemporary Irish poetry in which twenty-two of Ireland’s leading poets each selected five poems from their own work and contributed a personal introduction explaining their choices. Contributors include Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Paul Durcan, Derek Mahon, Michael Longley, Paula Meehan, John Montague, Paul Muldoon, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Ciaran Carson, Brendan Kennelly, Rita Ann Higgins, Theo Dorgan and many others, offering an unusually personal survey of modern Irish poetry. The volume was edited by John McDonagh and published by Poolbeg in 2008.

Although Heaney’s poems appear in many anthologies, copies bearing his signature are considerably scarcer than signed editions of his own books, particularly where the signature is cleanly presented without personal inscription. Signed the year before his death, the volume represents an appealing association with Ireland’s Nobel Laureate at the height of his later career.

A handsome anthology combining literary significance with the added desirability of an authentic Seamus Heaney signature.

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