# Is "The Spirit Level" by Seamus Heaney a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney (Faber & Faber, 1996) is identified by: Heaney's first collection after his 1995 Nobel Prize; won the 1996 Whitbread Poetry Award. UK Faber & Faber (1996) is the true first; the US FSG edition is the first American printing.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Heaney's first collection after his 1995 Nobel Prize; won the 1996 Whitbread Poetry Award
- UK Faber & Faber first printing, 1996: 'First published in 1996' with a full descending number line on the copyright page; dark green cloth boards lettered in gilt to spine, in dust jacket
- US Farrar, Straus & Giroux is the first American printing
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Seamus Heaney |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year | 1996 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Heaney's first collection after his 1995 Nobel Prize; won the 1996 Whitbread Poetry Award |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Heaney's first collection after his 1995 Nobel Prize; won the 1996 Whitbread Poetry Award. UK Faber & Faber first printing, 1996: 'First published in 1996' with a full descending number line on the copyright page; dark green cloth boards lettered in gilt to spine, in dust jacket. US Farrar, Straus & Giroux is the first American printing.

## Is this the true first?
UK Faber & Faber (1996) is the true first; the US FSG edition is the first American printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue. The first printing shows the complete descending number line; later printings advance it (a later printing shows, for example, a line beginning at 6).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Spirit Level* by Seamus Heaney a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-spirit-level
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.