# Is "Death of a Naturalist" by Seamus Heaney a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney (Faber and Faber, 1966) is identified by: Faber and Faber, London, 1966; Heaney's first major collection, octavo, 57 pages, printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co. The Faber UK edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Faber and Faber, London, 1966
- Heaney's first major collection, octavo, 57 pages, printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co
- The first edition (Brandes & Durkan A2a) is bound in green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt
- It is issued in a salmon/tan and white dust jacket lettered in black; the rear panel lists other Faber poets, including Auden, Eliot, Hughes, Larkin, Lowell, MacNeice, and Spender
- A first-issue jacket carries the printed price at the corner of the front flap (unclipped)
- Publisher imprint reads Faber and Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Seamus Heaney |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
| Year | 1966 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Faber and Faber, London, 1966 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Faber and Faber, London, 1966; Heaney's first major collection, octavo, 57 pages, printed in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Co. The first edition (Brandes & Durkan A2a) is bound in green cloth with the spine lettered in gilt. It is issued in a salmon/tan and white dust jacket lettered in black; the rear panel lists other Faber poets, including Auden, Eliot, Hughes, Larkin, Lowell, MacNeice, and Spender. A first-issue jacket carries the printed price at the corner of the front flap (unclipped).

## Is this the true first?
The Faber UK edition is the true first. The US Oxford University Press edition (also 1966) was made up of the UK sheets with a new American title page, in roughly one thousand copies, so it follows the Faber printing rather than competing with it. Brandes and Durkan is the standard bibliographic authority (A2a).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The crux is the priced Faber first impression (green cloth, salmon-and-white jacket, no impression line) versus later Faber printings that add a printing statement, and versus the US Oxford issue printed from the same sheets.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Death of a Naturalist* by Seamus Heaney a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/death-of-a-naturalist
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.