HEANEY, Seamus. Et al. The Four Elements. Set of Signed prints by Heaney, Sail, Joseph and Lee.

Cheltenham Festival of Literature / Whittington Press, 1985. Earth – poem by Lawrence Sail. Air (“The Air Station”) – poem by Seamus Heaney. Fire (“By Lake Huron in Winter”) – poem by Jenny Joseph. Water (“Fish and Water”) – poem by Laurie Lee. Each sheet is signed in pencil or ink by the contributing poet. No. 35 of 125 copies. Each leaf approx. 50 × 38 cm, with deckled edges. The wood engravings are printed in rich monochrome or muted colour, each compositionally distinct yet thematically unified by elemental symbolism. Housed in the original stiff paper portfolio with printed title-label.

Large folio, loose-leaf suite (as issued), printed on mould-made paper and housed in the original publisher’s portfolio. Comprising four wood-engraved plates, each accompanying a poem on one of the classical elements, printed at The Whittington Press and signed by the respective authors. Excellent. Clean, bright impressions; no foxing or staining observed.

All four plates are wood-engraved by Miriam Macgregor, one of the leading British engravers of the late twentieth century, whose work is strongly associated with fine-press poetry and natural themes.

This suite is particularly notable for the inclusion of a signed Seamus Heaney leaf, making it one of the scarcer Heaney fine-press signed works produced outside Ireland during the 1980s. The combination of four signed poets, a leading private press (Whittington Press), and original wood engravings gives the set strong cross-collecting appeal: poetry, fine printing, and modern British & Irish literature.

[L1 BC Drawer 2]