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. Dublin: Gerrard Bros, 37 Stephen's Green, 15 October 1901.

8vo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 ins; 215 x 140 mm). Publisher's printed pink wrappers; faded along spine edge, some minor spotting, but unchipped and internally clean. Cloth case.

William Ambrose Bissell (bookplate to box, purchased Argonaut Bookshop, 1946)

Slocum and  Cahoon B1

First edition of Joyce's first surviving book appearance. A rarity produced in perhaps 85 copies when Joyce and Skeffington were rejected by the school literary magazine and scraped up enough change to have their works printed at a local stationery shop.  Given the condition and the provenance, this was in reader's hands rather than one of the few remainders found 50 years ago. "No man, said the Nolan, can be a lover of the true or the good unless he abhors the multitude; and the artist, though he may employ the crowd, is very careful to isolate himself". Some sources suggest less than 20 of these were originally sold.