Collected Pruse. London: Macgibbon,1967. First Edition. Frontispiece portrait by Sean O’Sullivan. Pp, 287. Speckled green cloth boards, title lettered in gilt along spine, mild shelf-wear & toning to fore-edges; otherwise a nice bright copy. Lacks dust jacket.

Kavanagh writes about his upbringing in rural County Monaghan, his struggles as a writer, and his move to Dublin. His famous essay The Green Fool (a reference to his early autobiographical novel) touches on his poetic awakening. The collection includes sharp, often controversial critiques of Irish literature and society. Kavanagh was dismissive of what he saw as the sentimentalisation of rural Ireland 

There are aphorisms, criticism and gaiety in plenty & includes pieces from The Irish Times and Kavanagh’s Weekly (a short-lived paper he co-edited in 1952), where he opined on politics, culture, and art.

An account for the famous libel action that Kavanagh brought against the small-circulation journal ‘The Leader’ in 1954 is included.