JOYCE, James
Finnegans Wake
Finnegans Wake
London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1939
Illustrated by
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JOYCE, James. Finnegans Wake. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1939. First edition, first printing of the trade issue, herewith finely rebound. Large octavo, half-title present. Sold simultaneously with the signed limited issue on 4 May 1939.
Unique, Bespoke Fine Binding of James Joyce’s final and most experimental work
Recently and finely rebound by the wonderfully talented Rosy Gray of Black Cat Bindery, a traditional craft bookbindery based in the heart of Somerset, UK. Resewn by hand and sumptuously bound in full oxblood Katsina fine goatskin from Harmatan and Oakridge Leathers, the spine in five tooled compartments with four raised bands and gilt lettering, and gilt blocks to front and rear covers.
The front cover is blocked with a spiral rendered in an unbroken line that starts with a minimalist portrait of Joyce, depicted in his characteristic hat, round glasses and bow tie, and continues to unfurl outward. This motif is inspired by Constantin Brancusi’s “Symbol of James Joyce”, a simple spiral created by the Romanian-born artist as a portrait of Joyce, first used as the frontispiece to Tales Told of Shem and Shaun (a limited edition production of excerpts from Finnegans Wake, published the Black Sun Press in 1929). Brancusi remarked of his spiral design: “Joyce is like that: he departs from one point, and you’ll never meet him again.”
The rear cover is repeatedly blocked with Joyce's famous onomatopoeic coinage and representation of the symbolic thunderclap associated with the fall of Adam and Eve in the book, built from words meaning “thunder” from various languages. The word is arranged in a circular formation that visually echoes the front cover’s spiral design, while a scattering of gilt musical notes from the song Finnegan’s Wake decorates its centre, reflecting Joyce’s deep appreciation for the rhythm and melody of language.
Finishing details include hand-sewn crimson and yellow headbands, a pure silk marker ribbon, and handmade Anne Muir marbled endpapers in a vibrant French curl pattern echoing the spiral motif of the cover.
The book is presented in a custom clamshell box covered in matching rust cloth and lined with bright yellow suede. The solander case is embossed to mirror the book’s design, with the blocks reversed for visual harmony, and with title and author to a leather label to spine.
Condition
The closed text block is a little darkened, pages are tanned with a few marginal tide marks, some spotting and a few sporadic ear marks throughout, heavier offsetting to the last page; else clean, complete and legible.
"The most conspicuous innovation of Finnegans Wake is its use of 'dream-language'. After Ulysses, Joyce believed that he had 'come to the end of English', and his last novel is a pervasive layering of multilingual puns in successive drafts which produces a fabric rich in semantic possibilities." (ODNB)
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