HEANEY, Seamus.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Haw Lantern. First edition, inscribed by the author on the title page shortly after its June publication, "Paul, A lantern to lead you to more light, Slainte!, Seamus, 1. VII. 87". Several of the poems in this volume explore themes of mortality and loss, penned after the death of Heaney's mother in 1984 and his father two years later.The recipient was Paul Sullivan, whose decades-long friendship with Heaney, rooted in a shared love of poetry, began with their mutual associations with the printer Peter Fallon. Fallon introduced Sullivan, a stockbroker in Massachusetts, to contemporary Irish literature in the 1970s. Sullivan became an enthusiastic patron and collector of Heaney's writing. When Heaney lectured at Harvard in the 1980s and 90s, Sullivan and his wife Ulla hosted the poet for dinner twice a week; on his return to Ireland, Heaney invited them to stay with him. This copy was acquired direct from Sullivan's estate.

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