Death of a Naturalist. London: Faber & Faber, 1966. Second Impression. Pp, 57. Green cloth boards in publisher’s dust jacket (salmon and white, lettered in black). Heavy spotting to endpapers & preliminary leaves & occasionally throughout the text. Jacket faded, frayed & worn along edges. Housed in collectors’ solander box.

Inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper:

For Nancy, “Are Your Praties Dry/And are they fit for diggin?’ ‘Put in your spade and try’ Says Dirty Face McGuigan.” Sláinte! Seamus’

Nancy Delaney was the wife of the renowned sculptor Edward Delaney. The couple were friends with the Heaney’s and this copy was inscribed circa 1966.

Edward Delaney (1930-2009) was one of Ireland’s most influential modern sculptors, best known for his bronze public monuments such as the Wolfe Tone statue and the Famine Memorial in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.