A Store of Candles, first published by Oxford University Press in 1977 and a Choice of the Poetry Book Society, won uncommon praise from readers and reviewers.

'Frank Ormsby's first collection proves him a fine poet indeed . . . There are over fifty poems here, a few good, the rest excellent . . . an enviable first collection.'

Ronald Marken noted in the Irish University Review 'the linguistic and emotional candour, the sureness of the form, and the way Ormsby skirts sentimentality'. Fortnight observed, 'When Ormsby is working with what is close to him, an emotional experience related directly to a certain place and time, his craftsmanship is assured yet delicate . . . 'A Day in August' demonstrates Ormsby's impressive skill in writing in a language charged with metaphorical simplicity: an intense tranquility stunning in its composure'.

Frank Ormsby's evocations and recreations of his 'part of the world', the Fermanagh countryside of Northern Ireland, embody the intimacy and limitation of the local and, at the same time, claim for it, without pretension, its importance in the universal scheme.