MacNeacail, Aonghas

Rock and Water

ISBN: 0748660658
Edinburgh, Scotland: Polygon, 1990. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed & signed by Aonghas MacNeacall to Thomas Rain Crowe. "Aonghas MacNecail, already acclaimed as one of the best Gaelic poets of his generation, is less well known for his English poetry. Rock and Water brings together these poems which have previously only appeared in magazines and pamphlets. The backdrop to the work is a past which, in the shadow of the Clearances and Glencoe, threatens to become a martyrology: 'I want to shape a weapon from those fragments of my history', he says in a prose piece. The poems evoke a feeling of exile, doubly real written in MacNeacail's second language." (from front flap) A collection of poems in English by Aonghas MacNeacail, among the foremost Scottish poet-playwrights in the original Gaelic language. Since he is said to be influenced perhaps as much by the Black Mountain School as Gaelic traditions, English is appropriate here as MacNeacail's "second Language." Softcover original in sewn binding with flaps, first edition. On the title page, MacNeacail has hand-written an inscription & his signature, mostly in the Gaelic language which we cannot decipher. The recipient, whose name MacNeacail has written in Gaelic followed by English in parenthesis, is Thomas Rain Crowe, the noted poet & publisher who was at the center of the Baby Beat Generation/ Second San Francisco Renaissance during the 1970s (see our book, Starting From San Francisco, Item No. 3071, Deluxe Edition No. 3075). Among Crowe's interests & areas of expertise are the languages & cultures of Scotland, Ireland & Wales. A major MacNeacail collectible, especially for English-speaking readers, greatly enriched by this poet-to-poet association & provenance. In very fine condition with only very light rubbing to front, back covers & spine; slight wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps; mild spotting to upper edge of text block. Interior very fine with only small, faint creases & tiny bumps at mostly upper corners of page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #3948]

Price: $40.00 save 20% $32.00