Beowulf. A New Translation.

First edition. 8vo. Pp. xxx, 106, [6 (blank)]. Publisher's dark blue paper-covered boards, lettered in gilt to spine; rust-orange endpapers. Family Trees, A Note on Names, and Acknowledgements to rear. Jacket painting detail of 'Then Rain' (1986) by Barrie Cooke (priced £14.99 to front flap). Translation and twenty-two page introduction by Heaney, 1995 Nobel Laureate in Literature. Dedicated to the memory of Ted Hughes (1930–1998).

Signed by Author to title page.

A Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. Winner of the 1999 Whitbread Book of the Year. A classic rendering of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem of unknown authorship, dating – as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript – between the eighth and the early eleventh century, and set in Scandinavia. Consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines, it uses a lexicon of 3,100 distinct words, with almost 1,300 occurring exclusively in this poem. "[Heaney is] the one living poet who can rightly claim to be the Beowulf poet's heir." –Edward Mendelson, New York Times Book Review

[Brandes & Durkan A72a]