Joyce, James | Joyce's first appearance in book format

Joyce, James

Two Essays. "A Forgotten Aspect of the University Question" by F. J. C. Skeffington and "The Day of the Rabblement" by James A. Joyce (wrapper title). Dublin: Gerrard Bros., (1901)

8vo pamphlet (212 x 138 mm). Very faint vertical crease, upper fore-edge corners just creased, some small rust stains from original staples, but withal a bright, fine copy. Orange cloth portfolio case.

An unusually fresh copy of the first edition of Joyce's first appearance in book format, preceded in print only by his 1900 periodical review of Ibsen and by the juvenilia Et Tu, Healy!, of which no copy is known. In a joint preface, Joyce and Skeffington explain that their "Two Essays were commissioned by the Editor of St. Stephen's for that paper, but were subsequently refused insertion by the Censor. The writers are now publishing them in their original form." The edition was probably about 85 copies, of which perhaps only twenty were sold.

REFERENCE

Slocum & Cahoon B1