Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected prose, 1968-1978. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1980.
Price: US$16.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: soft cover in very good to near fine condition,name on 1st blank page
Seller: Bingo Books 2, Vancouver, WA, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected prose, 1968-1978. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1980.
Price: US$22.50 + shipping
Description:
Seller: Robert S. Brooks, Bookseller, Bristol, WI, U.S.A.
Seamus Heaney. Preoccupations: Selected Prose, 1968-1978. Farrar, Straus and Company, NY, 1980.
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Description: Hardcover with minor wear, clean and tightly bound. Foxing to top and front edges of the text block, light foxing to end pages, and minor scattered foxing to pages, otherwise bright,clean and unmarked. Dust jacket with some discoloration and a bit of sunning to spine, not price-clipped and now protected in a clear archival sleeve.
Seller: North Country Books, Milton, VT, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. PREOCCUPATIONS Selected Prose 1968 - 1978. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, New York, 1980.
Price: US$38.50 + shipping
Description: Boards in dust jacket; small 8vo. 224 pp. Poet's first collection of prose, some personal many critical pieces on major and contemporary poets. Light offset of endpapers, but fine in a very lightly used complete dust jacket, the spine toned (in a removable archival protective cover). Brandes & Durkan A25b.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Description: 224 pp w/selected bibliography. Fine in near fine dust jacket with light tanning to spine and one 1/4 in tear.
Seller: Jeff Maser, Bookseller - ABAA, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
HEANEY, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose, 1968-1978. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York, 1980.
Price: US$55.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (21.5cm); russet paper-covered boards, blocked and titled in black and gilt on spine, with author's initials stamped in gilt on front cover; dustjacket; [16],17-224,[2]pp. Faint foxing to upper edge of textblock, else Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped (priced $15.00), with a hint of sunning to spine, some trivial wear and dustiness, and a few tiny tears toward lower right corner of front panel; Near Fine. The Nobel Prize-winning poet's first prose collection.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 1980.
Price: US$56.54 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. Full brown paper, black spine label. 224 pp. Dust jacket stained to rear cover, else fine in a fine jacket. Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney's first collection of prose, Preoccupations, begins with a vivid account of his early years on his father's farm in Northern Ireland and his coming of age as a student and teacher in Belfast. Subsequent essays include critical work on William Wordsworth, John Keats, Robert Lowell, William Butler Yeats, John Montague, Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, and Philip Larkin.
Seller: Minotavros Books, ABAC ILAB, Whitby, ON, Canada
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing, a review copy with the publisher's slip laid in. Octavo (21.5cm); rust-colored paper-covered boards, titled and blocked in black and gilt on spine and front panel; [16],17-224,[2]pp. Faint foxing to text edges, with previous owners name discreetly written on front pastedown; Near Fine. Dustjacket is unclipped, lightly sunned at spine, with a few tiny nicks at spine ends, small stain to front panel, and a short closed tear to bottom edge of same; Very Good+. The Nobel Laureate's first prose collection, not commonly found as an advance.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$65.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American Editions, First Printings. Poems 1965-1975, a Fine copy in green marbled paper covered boards, in a Near Fine dustwrapper, not price-clipped, slight toning to spine panel. 228pp. Collects the contents of Heaney's first four volumes of poems. Preoccupations Selected Prose 1968-1978, a Fine copy in brown marbled paper covered boards, in a near Fine dustwrapper, not price-clipped, with slight toning to spine panel. 226pp. with a brief Foreword. These two volumes were issued simultaneously in the U.S., and mark a watershed moment when Heaney was on the verge of international recognition, which would eventually result in his receiving the Nobel Prize in 1995. Two matching volumes, clean and unmarked. Q17156
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.
HEANEY, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968 - 1978. Farrar Straus Giroux, New York, 1980.
Price: US$85.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American edition. Foxing on the top edge of the textblock, else fine in a fine dustwrapper with the spine lightly toned. Prose selections from the Nobel laureate.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected prose, 1968-1978. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1980.
Price: US$89.95 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: The book and jacket are in fine condition. Jacket in mylar cover. First American Edition, First Printing.
Seller: Signedbookman, Buffalo Gove, IL, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Octavo, 224pp. Very near fine in the publisher's salmon-colored wraps. A few leaves have gentle marginal creases, but tehe book is otherwise fine.
Seller: Cleveland Book Company, ABAA, Rocky River, OH, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Softcover. White covers (still somewhat glossy) with orange and black lettering. No date on the title page. Copyright states Second Printing, 1981. 224 pages. Binding good and tight and clean. Signed by Heaney on the half title page, dated May 1985. No inscription, just his name. Please email with questions or to request photos. If a photograph pops up beside my listing, please be aware that it's a "stock photo" (whatever that means) added by ABE & not this actual copy of the book.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First American edition. White-out gift inscription from "Elise" to Alice Goodman on the title page with penned notations on a few pages, light foxing on page edges, spine ends lightly bumped with spine modestly cocked, very good in a very good price-clipped dust jacket with small stains and spine tanned, short tears on edges. Prose selections from the Nobel laureate. Inscribed by Alice Goodman on the front fly: "From E.T.T. December, 1980, Alice Goodman." Alice Goodman, poet, Anglican priest, and wife of poet Geoffrey Hill. A nice association copy.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus.. PREOCCUPATIONS. SELECTED PROSE 1968-1978.. FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX., NY, 1980.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American edition. REVIEW COPY. (Publisher's printed slip laid-in. ) Fine in near fine dust jacket. (Mild hint of toning at bottom edge of front panel, & spine. ) (B)
Seller: WAVERLEY BOOKS ABAA, Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$110.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. 8vo, publishers riginal orange boards, lettered in gilt on the spine and upper cover, in the original printed dustjacket. 224, (2 Bibliography) pp. A pristine copy, as new but for light mellowing to the spine panel. A PRISTINE COPY OF THIS FIRST EDITION. HEANEYS FIRST PROSE COLLECTION. A STIMULATING FORAY INTO THE PRACTICE OF POETRY. Included are reflections on his own work, critical pieces on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Wordsworth, and John Keats; and explorations of the works of Robert Lowell and William Butler Yeats. "Whether responding to the strength and mystery of early Irish nature poetry, or to a single contemporary volume, Heaneys utterly individual voice is unmistakable throughout these twenty essays."
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Octavo, 224pp. A fine copy in the publisher's salmon-colored wraps. In a proof dust jacket, which looks just like the first edition jacket, with no author photo on the rear panel.
Seller: Cleveland Book Company, ABAA, Rocky River, OH, U.S.A.
HEANEY, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978. Farrar Straus Giroux (1980), N. Y., 1980.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo, printed wrappers, dust jacket. Fine copy in proof dust jacket. Fine copy in proof dust jacket. Uncorrected proof copy of the first American edition.
Seller: James S. Jaffe Rare Books, LLC, ABAA, Deep River, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$192.41 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Large post8vo, 226 p. Original orange card covers, printed black. Several small grubby marks on the covers otherwise a fine copy printed by Crane Duplicating Inc., Barnstable, MA 02630. The review slip dated December 5, 1980 is loosely inserted.
Seller: JIRI Books, Lisburn, United Kingdom
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected prose, 1968-1978. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1980.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First American Edition signed and dated by author on front flyleaf. Previous owner's initials on same page. Faint yellow streaks on either side of the front and rear hinges, probably due to the aging of the binding glue. Some foxing to the top edge of the text block. Short, closed tear at top left edge on front of dust jacket. Small wrinkle at spine head. Teeny chip out of bottom right edge on front of jacket. Small tear at lower corner of jacket on the back. Tiny brown spot in upper left corner of jacket on back. Jacket spine a little yellowed. Jacket now in paper backed mylar.
Seller: Avol's Books LLC, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978.. New York, Farrar Straus Giroux., 1980.
Price: US$225.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition, First Printing in U.S. **This copy is a special format, has an extra publisher's dust jacket made without printing on the flaps, with a custom clear protector, and no ISBN on the copyright page** Hardcover. Condition: fine with fine dust jackets. Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.
Seller: Bucks County Bookshop IOBA, Doylestown, PA, U.S.A.
Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations. Faber & Faber, London, Boston, 1980.
Price: US$230.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. A prose collection, including some of Heaney's literary criticism of Paul Muldoon, Robert Lowell, and others. Bound in blue textured paper over boards, fine. With dustwrapper showing faint soiling at edges, else near fine. Together with the first American edition, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 1980. Adds the Selected Bibliography to the contents. Bound in brown paper over boards, somewhat bumped, else near fine in near fine dust wrapper.
Seller: Bromer Booksellers, Inc., ABAA, Boston, MA, U.S.A.
Seamus Heaney. Preoccupations. Selected Prose, 1968 - 1978.. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1980.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Signed. First Edition. SIGNED by the author on the front free endpaper. Dust Jacket is in a removable clear plastic (Brodart) protector, pages are clean.
Seller: Books From California, Simi Valley, CA, U.S.A.
HEANEY, SEAMUS. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1980.
Price: US$376.96 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 8vo. Rust coloured boards with gilt and black title label to spine. Wrapped in decorative dust jacket. Inscribed to Greg Gatenby on the front endpaper "Greg : The bat that flits at close of eve, Has left the brain that won't believe. Seamus Heaney March 1986" Gatenby, the director of the Harbourfront Reading Series, has his ownership signature on the front endpaper. Some minor soiling but o/w a fine copy.
Seller: Karol Krysik Books ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA, Toronto, ON, Canada