Literature
JOYCE, James.
Finnegans Wake.
London, Faber & Faber; New York, Viking Press, 1939. 8vo. Original red buckram, titles to spine gilt, top edge gilt others untrimmed. With the publisher's yellow cloth slipcase. Some very minor spotting here and there but far less than usual with this printing, spine a little faded but a very stout and pleasing copy in the rather dusty plain cloth slipcase.
FIRST EDITION Limited Issue. One of 425 copies printed on handmade paper and signed by Joyce. This was a joint publication with the American and English publishers sharing the edition 300 to 125 respectively. It is held in some quarters that the first 125 were reserved for the British market but Slocum makes no mention of this and I suspect the opinion is mere speculation. "The 'Wake'...has passages of unearthly beauty (particularly the last page) and huge comic scenes. Joyce insisted that each word, each sentence had several meanings and that the ideal lecteur should devote his lifetime to it, like the Koran" (Connolly). Anthony Burgess put it another way, "The greatest failure in literature". Slocum and Cahoon A49; Connolly, The Modern Movement 87; Burgess, 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939, p. 25.
Price: £ 10000
US Dollar Price: $ 14500
Stock Number: 74372