Janina Ramirez’s introduction explores the fascination the poem has exerted for more than a millennium. Ramirez pays tribute to the beauty and musicality of Old English poetic forms and considers the importance of the gift of Heaney’s translation. "Beowulf has somehow defied all other Old English texts to become recognised as the nation’s first epic," she says.
Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney’s original introduction is also included. In it he explores his linguistic relationship with the poem.
Folio Society Publishes Lavish Limited Edition of Beowulf
The Folio Society
The new Beowulf
The Folio Society has published a new limited edition of Beowulf, using Seamus Heaney’s interpretation, presented with the Old English verse.
Featuring illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins and an exclusive new introduction by historian Janina Ramirez, each of the 750 numbered copies (US $925, Canada $1,200) has been signed by both contributors. Bound in goatskin leather blocked in metallic blue and gold foils, this parallel-text limited edition is printed in two colours throughout with gold on the top page edges.
Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ illustrations accompany the poem. His artwork has all been completed entirely by hand using two printed colours from a palette of blue, black and white. The artist’s illustrative scheme includes two page borders, eight double-page spreads, three half-page illustrations and a print for framing.
