[Literature] Joyce, James Finnegans Wake

[Literature] Joyce, James Finnegans Wake

London: Faber & Faber Limited/New York: The Viking Press, 1939. First and limited edition, #312/425 copies signed by Joyce, in green pen. 4to. (vi), 628 pp. From the library of Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish-American author Frank McCourt. Original orange cloth, stamped in gilt, spine lightly faded, small stain on upper front board; top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed; partially unopened; in original yellow slipcase, scattered faint spotting and soiling. A near-fine copy. Slocum & Cahoon 49

"Over the years we've aged, the hair whitening or graying, and many of us have long passed the age at which Joyce died, fifty-eight. Joyce's work has liberated many an artist while his life stands as a lesson to us all. He suffered greatly: the growing failure of his eyes, the growing madness of his daughter. All his days he skirmished for pennies, and fought pitched battles for his art. He was a family man, fiercly tribal, and we must not forget he was driven by love." (Frank McCourt, Yes I Said Yes I Will Yes: A Celebration of James Joyce, Ulysses, and 100 Years of Bloomsday, 2010, p. xiii).

From the library of Frank McCourt.