Books

Cambridge [Massachusetts]: The Poets' Theatre Workshop, 1955. Hardcover. Good. Broadside illustrated in color on stiff cardstock. Measuring 10.25" x 13.75". Two incorrectly used printed apostrophes are whited-out by hand, some horizontal creases, and a small, light stain, near very good. Poster for Manning's stage adaptation of Joyce's novel that Manning arranged in 1955 as *The Voice of Shem.* Manning was a regular cast member at the Abbey Theatre, a playwright, and was a filmmaker. After a distinguished career in Ireland she moved to Boston where she served as managing director of the Idler Theatre at Radcliffe College in the 1940s and was one of the founding members of the Poet's Theatre in Cambridge in 1950. The poster notes that tickets were on sale at the Mandrake Book Store on Boylston Street in Cambridge. Interesting period-style illustration of a beer quaffer blathering over the cantilevered corpse of Finnegan. The original performances were in April of 1955; this return…

Finnegans Wake is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is significant for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works in the Western canon. The book, Joyce's final and most avant-garde work, is structured as a sort of feverish dream containing multilingual puns, numerous literary and historical allusions, and a rich tapestry of themes.