Sweeney Astray. A Version from the Irish. Derry: Field Day, 1983. First Edition. Pp, 77. Oatmeal cloth boards, title and image in black to covers, in pictorial dust jacket designed by Colin Middleton. A fine bright copy.

Signed & Dated ‘Séamus Ó h-Éanaigh’ on the title page

Heaney seldom signed his name in Irish, this being the first complete translation of Buile Suibhne since 1913, gives it additional significance.

The story centers on the fate of Sweeney, the king of Dal-Arie in Ulster, who was cursed by a saint, turned into a bird, and driven astray for many years until the curse was fulfilled by his death.