STEPPING STONES: Interviews with Seamus Heaney.

First edition, first printing. Signed by the authors Seamus Heaney and Dennis O'Driscoll. Original black paper-covered boards lettered in gilt to the spine, in dustwrapper. Illustrated with black and white photographs. A fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean and fresh throughout. The dustwrapper shows a few light surface marks (near unavoidable with the matte laminate used), a very slight rubbing to the edges, light creasing at the foot of the spine and a tiny abrasion to the front panel. Not price-clipped (£22.50 to the front flap).

Signed by Seamus Heaney and Dennis O'Driscoll in black ink on the title page. 'Stepping Stones' is effectively an autobiography in the form of a series of in-depth interviews with fellow Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll. Alive with Heaney's own voice, it is a book that illuminates the life and work. "This really is a remarkable book. There isn't a dull, vapid or useless sentence in it; it's about what it is to be human, as much as it is about what it is to be a poet." (Nicholas Lezard, in 'The Guardian').