Books

First edition, first impression, trade issue, the dust jacket in unusually nice condition. "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). The trade issue comprised 3,400 copies, of which 950 in sheets were destroyed by the publisher. Finnegans Wake was issued in Britain and America simultaneously, alongside a signed limited issue, on 4 May 1939. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, top edge yellow, other edges untrimmed. With dust jacket. Foxing to edges and outer leaves, else clean; unclipped jacket notably sharp, notwithstanding mild spine sunning and slight rubbing and nicks to edges: a near-fine copy in like jacket. Connolly, The Modern Movement 87; Slocum & Cahoon A47.

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.