Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
SIMMONS, James. Ballad of a Marriage. Festival Publications / Queen's University, Belfast, 1965.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First edition, first issue (with "ten point star"). Octavo, 20pp. Stapled white wrappers printed in black with starburst design on front cover stamped in purple. Faint offsetting on front wrap, near fine copy. Irish author's first book, issued in the same "Festival Publications" series that published Seamus Heaney's first book, *Eleven Poems*, a few months after this was published.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
SIMMONS, James. Ballad of a Marriage. Festival Publications / Queen's University, Belfast, 1965.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition, first issue (with "ten point star"). Octavo, 20pp. Stapled white wrappers printed in black with starburst design on front cover stamped in purple. A fine, bright copy. Irish author's first book, issued in the same "Festival Publications" series that published Seamus Heaney's first book, *Eleven Poems*, a few months after this was published.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
HEANEY, Seamus.. Eleven Poems.. Belfast Festival Publications, 1965.
Price: US$3025.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, second 'issue' (with the ten-point sun symbol); single octavo quire; internally clean; publisher's stapled self wrappers printed in black & light purple. A very nice copy. First edition of Heaney's rare first published work, with the notice for his 'first book of poems, Death of a Naturalist' to be published in Spring 1966. There are three apparent 'issues' of Heaney's first publication, the first two are in white self wrappers, with the Festival Publications' roundel in light purple then, as here, dark purple. The third manifestation was issued in green wrappers with printing details on the lower wrapper in two distinct states. These are not issues; they are distinct printings. No less appealing and bibliographically important for that, but the persistent notion that the later issues are somehow part of the original printing is false. Rare thus in such condition. From the collection of J. Kenneth Jamison (1931-2016), Director of the the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Heaney's friend, who was instrumental in putting on the event that brought Heaney, Longley, and Hammond together on the stage to perform their poems and songs at venues across Ireland. The very first poem, 'Personal Helicon (For Michael Longley)' (whose work appeared in the same Festival Publications series) in its opening and closing lines ('As a child, they could not keep me from wells / and old pumps with buckets and windlasses. / I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky' and 'I rhyme / to see myself, to set the darkness echoing') prefigures the Nobel Prize acceptance speech that Heaney would make 30 years later, 'I credit [poetry] ultimately because [it] can make an order as true to the impact of external reality and as sensitive to the inner laws of the poet's being as the ripples that rippled in and rippled out across the water in that scullery bucket fifty years ago. An order where we can at last grow up to that which we stored up as we grew. An order which satisfies all that is appetitive in the intelligence and prehensile in the affections. I credit poetry, in other words, both for being itself and for being a help, for making possible a fluid and restorative relationship between the mind's centre and its circumference.' Brandes & Durkan A1b.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Heaney, Seamus. Eleven Poems. Belfast Festival Publications, 1965.
Price: US$3867.12 + shipping
Description: p.p. 15. Original green wrappers. Custom made solander box.
Seller: Healy Rare Books, Galway, Ireland
Heaney Seamus. Eleven Poems; First Edition, First Issue. Festival Publications (Belfast) 1965, 1965.
Price: US$6434.87 + shipping
Description: Inscription to front of wrapper, VG bright copy in lightly browned white laid paper wrappers with the nine pointed purple star device as called for in the first issue. 15pp. Attractive copy of Scarce item.Bears the Signature of Literary Critic and Architectural Historian Andor Gomme. ISBN B0032Y3TPO
Seller: Peter J. Hadley Bookseller ABA ILAB, Ludlow, United Kingdom
Price: US$7678.99 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Pp, 15. Light browning to wrappers, more pronounced to outer margin of rear wrapper, contents pages in nice bright condition. The scarce first issue of Heaney's first book of poetry, published while he still a student in Queen's University, Belfast.
Seller: Ulysses Rare Books Ltd. ABA, ILAB, Dublin , Ireland
HEANEY Seamus. Eleven Poems. [1965]., 1965.
Price: US$9661.97 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue. 8vo., original printed wrappers. Belfast, Festival Publications, Queen's University of Belfast. [offered with:] LONGLEY (Michael). Ten Poems. First edition. 8vo., original printed wrappers. Belfast, Festival Publications, Queen's University of Belfast. [1965]. [and:] MAHON (Michael). Twelve Poems. First edition. 8vo., original printed wrappers. Belfast, Festival Publications, Queen's University of Belfast. [1965]. A pristine copy of the correct first issue of Heaney's scarce first book, from the library of Jon Stallworthy, in its original mailing envelope (with Stallworthy's endearing post-it note ?These pamphlets are very valuable. JS 2/2/02?) and with a covering letter from Mary Mills of the Festival Office, thanking him for his cheque for £1, and sending the ?series to date?, which consists of the Heaney, Michael Longley's Ten Poems and Derek Mahon's Twelve Poems. The Longley and Mahon are also included for context. The Longley has a just-discernible rust mark, otherwise they're both equally fine. Stallworthy and Heaney, who initially met as students of Yeats, were to become close friends, with Stallworthy describing him as ?prince of men and poets? [from his memoir by Peter France, published online by the British Academy].
Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA, London, United Kingdom
HEANEY, Seamus; [GOAD, Rosemary]. ELEVEN POEMS. Belfast: Festival Publications., 1965.
Price: US$11272.30 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue with the purple nine-pointed sun figure to the front panel. This copy belonged to Rosemary Goad (1921-1998), a director at Faber and Faber who would later become a close friend of the poet. Goad's name is written in pencil to the upper left corner of the front panel in what appears to be Heaney's hand. Original stapled wrappers lettered in black to front and rear panels. A very near fine copy, the binding strong, the pages flat, with no traces of spotting. The lightly toned wraps are a little darker near the spine fold. Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case. The rear panel explains that this pamphlet "is one in a series to be published monthly and to include [list of nine poets including, Heaney, Michael Longley, and Derek Mahon]", each volume priced "Two shillings and sixpence [.]; subscription for series one pound (including postage)". A lovely association copy of the poet's scarce first individual publication. Published in November 1965, 'Eleven Poems' preceded 'Death of a Naturalist' (1966), Heaney's first full collection for Faber and Faber by seven months. All except one of the poems ('Peter Street at Bankside') printed in the pamphlet would later appear in the larger volume, and the publisher's statement at the end of 'Eleven Poems' acknowledges Faber, with whom Heaney was already under contract, "for permission to print these poems from 'Death of a Naturalist'." Heaney was at the time on the committee of the Belfast Festival and "In 1965", he later recalled, "there was still a touch of the ad hoc and the improvisatory about proceedings, so when I suggested a pamphlet series to Michael [Emmerson, who ran the Festival], it was a done deal in a minute and the booklets were brought out with very little fuss. The first three [Mahon's, Heaney's and Longley's] are collectors' items now, of course [.]. They look as if they were just xeroxed and stapled; but they were the start of something." Heaney's contribution was warmly praised by John Carey in the New Statesman ("assured [.] masterly"). This copy of 'Eleven Poems' belonged to Rosemary Goad, who joined Faber and Faber in 1953 as a secretary, assisting the editor Charles Monteith (and initially sharing a room in the office with Valerie Fletcher, who would soon become Valerie Eliot). Goad became the first female Faber director in 1970, retiring in 1988. Seamus Heaney would become a friend, inscribing copies of each of his books to Goad and even writing a poem for her when she retired. This copy of Heaney's early pamphlet has the name 'Miss Goad' written in pencil to the upper corner of the front panel. The handwriting appears to be that of the author. Monteith had written to Heaney in June 1965 (five months before 'Eleven Poems' was issued) to accept 'Death of a Naturalist' for publication, so he was still a new face in London. (Dennis O'Driscoll, 'Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney' [London, 2008]; Toby Faber, 'Faber & Faber: The Untold Story of a Great Publishing House' [London 2019]; Brandes and Durkan A1a.) Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
Seller: LUCIUS BOOKS (ABA, ILAB, PBFA), York, United Kingdom
Heaney, Seamus. Eleven Poems. Belfast Festival Publications, 1965.
Price: US$12430.02 + shipping
Description: Signed - First issue with a nine-pointed purple sun illustration to the cover. Original Publishers wrappers. p.p. 15. Signed by Seamus Heaney on the cover. Custom made solander box. Seamus Heaney, ever gracious and generous, signed this copy on my behalf at the Town Hall, Galway on the 24th April, 2013 prior to a joint reading of poetry with Michael Longley. At that time he stated he had not signed a copy of the first issue for years, so this copy is very likely to have been the last one he signed as he passed away on the 30th August 2013. A ticket for the Town Hall reading is also included which also included a reading by President Michael D. Higgins.
Seller: Healy Rare Books, Galway, Ireland
Seamus Heaney. Eleven Poems (FIRST ISSUE). Festival Publications, Belfast, 1965.
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition/First Printing. Soft cover original. Fine copy with a small shallow crease on the front flap in a half morocco slipcase. Original printed self wrappers, stapled as issued. First printing with the nine-point sun symbol in purple on the front wrapper. Debut collection from the Poet, rarely found in this condition.
Seller: MDS BOOKS, Mississauga, ON, Canada
HEANEY, Seamus.. Eleven Poems.. Belfast: Festival Publications, [November 1965], 1965.
Price: US$22544.60 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue (with the nine-point sun symbol), of Heaney's rare first published work, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the reverse of the front wrapper, "For Brendan & Pat: with every good wish, Seamus". The recipients, Brendan and Pat McCrystal, first met Heaney at their engagement party. The party was hosted by the principal of St Colmcille's Secondary School, Crossgar, Co. Down, and one of the English teachers, Marie Devlin, brought her then boyfriend (and later husband), Seamus Heaney. Both Brendan McCrystal and Heaney had links with St Joseph's Teacher Training College in Belfast, and the McCrystals and Heaneys maintained a friendship throughout the 1960s. Heaney's first published work includes a printed notice regarding his "first book of poems, 'Death of a Naturalist', due from Faber, Spring 1966". Several popular Heaney pieces first appeared in Eleven Poems, including "Personal Helicon" and "Death of a Naturalist". In Heaney's 1995 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, he stated "I credit [poetry] ultimately because [it] can make an order as true to the impact of external reality and as sensitive to the inner laws of the poet's being as the ripples that rippled in and rippled out across the water in that scullery bucket fifty years ago. An order where we can at last grow up to that which we stored up as we grew. An order which satisfies all that is appetitive in the intelligence and prehensile in the affections. I credit poetry, in other words, both for being itself and for being a help, for making possible a fluid and restorative relationship between the mind's centre and its circumference." In the opening poem of this debut collection, "Personal Helicon", Heaney prefigures the theme of his Nobel lecture by 30 years: "As a child, they could not keep me from wells / And old pumps with buckets and windlasses. / I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky. I rhyme / To see myself, to set the darkness echoing". Brandes & Durkan A1(a). Octavo. Original wrappers, wrappers lettered in black, front wrapper with vignette in purple. Ownership label of Brendan & Pat McCrystal to front cover with minor loss to corner, some light browning throughout, some marks to covers, minor tears to head and foot of spine: a very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom