{"product_id":"the-spirit-level","title":"The Spirit Level","description":"\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHEANEY, Seamus \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Spirit Level \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLondon: Faber and Faber, 1996 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e8vo., black cloth-backed blue paper-covered boards; printed paper label to spine; pp. [x], 70, [iv]; a fine copy, in the publisher’s matching slipcase. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLimited edition, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eone of just 350 numbered copies specially bound and signed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by the poet. This copy no. 142. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e[together with] \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e8vo., green boards lettered in gilt to spine with publisher’s device to head; together in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (£14.99 to front flap); pp. [x], 70; the book fine, the wrapper just a little scuffed and rubbed at spine tips, with some light shelf marking to the upper panel \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst edition. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e[and]\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA single-sided TLS, addressed to a ‘Andy Vaughan’ on Heaney’s addressed notepaper (14.5 x 18.5cm approx); folded once horizontally and signed by the poet; a little creased, some residue to verso from sometime being stuck down; very good. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGood ideas about the title for the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e” Heaney writes, “I’’m never sure until the last minute about these things. But, in fact, the manuscript i\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003es\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e [‘s’ corrected in ink pen] not quite settled yet, so there will be a long period of uncertainty ahead. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI have an inclination to call it \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Flaggy Shore,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewhich is the name of a place in County Clare mentioned in one of the poems; but also it has a nice double meaning, I think, in that “Flaggy” can mean either stony or hung with flags. So there y’are!” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the end, the finished book was titled ‘The Spirit Level’, with the aforementioned ‘Flaggy Shore’ appearing here only in the postscript at the rear of the volume: “And some time make the time to drive out west \/ Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore…”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA collection of 40 poems, and his first since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 \"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.\" The final title which Heaney decided upon refers to the carpenter’s tool used for creating balance across a flat surface, and is of course used metaphorically; a sentiment which is perhaps best illustrated in ‘The Poplar’ (p. 50), his poem of just four lines which reads: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWind shakes the big poplar,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003equicksilvering\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe whole tree in a single sweep.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat bright scale fell and left this needle quivering?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat loaded balances have come to grief? \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePeppered with personal references, Richard Tillinghurst wrote in his New York Times review that “[Heaney’s] poems, resting at the balance points between what we see as opposites, can make us realize that at times our vision utterly deceives us…Anyone who reads poetry has reason to rejoice at living in the age when Seamus Heaney is writing.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Spirit Level won the Whitbread Book of the Year award in the year of publication. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eunique association set\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, together with a letter from the poet discussing his ideas about the title. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fold the Corner Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55917399769412,"sku":"SQ4332191","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/8711\/0212\/files\/535_Foldthecornerbooks_02128.jpg?v=1776872722","url":"https:\/\/foldthecornerbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-spirit-level","provider":"Fold the Corner Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}