HEANEY, Seamus Sweeney Astray

INSCRIBED TO ‘EDDIE’ [LINDEN?]

 8vo., green card wraps lettered in black and white, with helmet device to upper cover; pp. [vi], vii-x, [ii], 13-77, [iii]; with vulture/haystack drawing in black and white and the repeat helmet device to p. 13 printed in orange, both by Colin Middleton; a very good copy, near-fine externally with just a little rubbing to corners; internally spotted to the outer edge of text block, endpapers and prelims. 

First paperback edition. This copy warmly inscribed by Heaney to the front free endpaper: “Eddie - with fond memories of the afternoon in Strand Road - Slàinte! Seamus 30/6/89”. The recipient is likely to be Eddie Linden, the Scottish-Irish poet, literary magazine editor, and political activist who published and edited the poetry magazine Aquarius which frequently included offerings by Heaney, alongside many others. Heaney’s ‘A Found Poem’ is dedicated to Linden. Heaney lived at Strand Road in Sandymount, Dublin, from 1976 until his death in 2013. 

Sweeney Astray was a new version of the Irish poem Buile Shuibhne, and was in turn based on an earlier edition and translation by J. G. O'Keeffe. The original medieval Irish tale centres around Suibhne mac Colmáin (anglicised as ‘Sweeney’), King of the Dál nAraidi, who is driven insane by a curse, making him leave the battle of Mag Rath and begin a life of wandering. Heaney’s translation went on to win the 1985 PEN Translation Prize for poetry. 

A lovely Heaney inscription. 

SKU: 1800260