James Joyce. Finnegans Wake. New York: The Viking Press, 1939. First American edition, trade issue, published in the month of first appearance. Octavo, 628 pages. Original black buckram, lettered in gilt with blue-green top edge, in the original first-issue dust jacket, with “First Regular Edition, $5.00” printed on the front flap; housed in a custom folding cloth box with morocco spine label.
A remarkable association copy once owned by Joyce himself, bearing the remains of a return address label in his hand affixed to the rear pastedown reading in green ink: “Envoi de: J. Joyce / hotel saint cristophe / la baule.” The book was purchased by Joyce in Zurich in the summer of 1939 shortly after publication and later sent by him from Brittany to a friend in Zurich. The volume had entered the stock of the Zurich bookseller Kurt Staheli & Co. on June 20, 1939, before being acquired by Joyce that August. During this period Joyce stayed at the Hotel Schweizerhof in Berne from August 14–20 before traveling to La Baule in Brittany on August 28, where he remained at the Hotel Saint-Christophe from September 2 until October 15. From there he mailed this copy, leaving the surviving return label as evidence of its transmission.
Finnegans Wake, Joyce’s final and most linguistically experimental masterpiece, was published simultaneously in London and New York on May 4, 1939.
Condition: Jacket backed with paper repairing several chips and short tears, with some rubbing and additional expert restoration; book fine or nearly so overall. A superb association copy of Joyce’s monumental final work.
With One Of A Kind Collectibles COA.