HEANEY, Seamus. The Four Elements. A set of four signed prints by Seamus Heaney, Laurie Lee, Jenny Joseph & Lawrence Sail. Illustrated by wood-engravings by John O’Connor.

The Fire Gaze by Seamus Heaney; The Three Winds by Laurie Lee; First Spring Dawn by Jenny Joseph; Water by Lawrence Sail. Illustrated by wood-engravings by John O'Connor. Whittington Press for the Friends of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature, 1989. Four large folio mould-made leaves. Limited edition of 125 copies. In very good condition.

A finely conceived collaboration between four poets of international standing and the master wood-engraver John O’Connor. Each element is represented by a new poem: Seamus Heaney’s The Fire Gaze, Laurie Lee’s The Three Winds, Jenny Joseph’s First Spring Dawn, and Lawrence Sail’s Water. These are printed on fine hand-made paper and paired with O’Connor’s engravings, which interpret and extend the imagery of the texts.

Produced in a very small limitation, the portfolio is now rarely encountered complete. The combination of Heaney and Lee’s signatures with O’Connor’s wood-engravings places this set amongst the most desirable modern literary print suites.

[L1 BC Cabnet]