Tales of Shem and Shaun. Three Fragments from Work in Progress by Joyce, James - 1929

Tales Told of Shem and Shaun by James Joyce. Black Sun Press (Paris: 1929). Copy No. 494 of 500 numbered copies. A fine volume in a Very Good original slipcase.
Printed in letterpress in red and black on cream-white, Holland Van Gelder Zonen laid paper. Text hand-set in the Caslon typeface. Foolscap quarto, 21 x 16.5 cm., top edge trimmed. White paper covers with folding top and side flaps. Presented in the original gold foil-covered slipcase [alternate slipcases incorporating green and red suede paper were also used]. With a Preface by C.K. Ogden, and a portrait of the author by Constantin Brâncuși printed in photogravure with tissue overlay. A Fine, clean and tight volume, in a (later) protective wrapper, housed in a very good, original gold foil-covered slipcase. Minor discoloration to extreme head and tail of cover (as shown in photos). Slipcase base is slightly unhinged at fore-edge; top edge shows a 2cm cello tape repair (as shown in photos). Tales Told of Shem and Shaun was the second… Read More

Paris: Black Sun Press, 1929. First edition. xvi, 64 pp. Original printed wrappers, in publisher's slipcase. One of 500 copies on Holland Van Gelder Zonen paper, of a total edition of 650 copies. Frontispiece portrait of Joyce by Brancusi. A fine copy with supplied later acetate wrapper, in the original slipcase, which is rubbed with tape repair at the corners, splitting at the top edge, and lacking a three-inch piece of the lower edge. Brancusi's frontispiece portrait, commissioned by the publishers Harry and Caresse Crosby, was a "Symbol of Joyce" intended to convey the sense of "enigmatic involution." When the sketch was shown to Joyce's father in Dublin, he remarked gravely, "The boy seems to have changed a good deal." (Ellmann, p. 614). Slocum & Cahoon A36. Minkoff, Black Sun, A-21.

Paris: Black Sun Press,, 1929. Telmetale of stem or stone First edition, first printing, number 224 of 500 copies on Holland paper, from a total edition of 650 copies; there were also 100 signed copies on japon and 50 hors commerce copies. This a particularly attractive example, retaining the publisher's striking metallic slipcase. Preceded by Anna Livia Plurabelle (1928), this is the second separately published portion of what was to become Finnegans Wake (1939). It contains "The Mookse and the Gripes", "The Muddest Thick that was ever heard dump", and "The Ondt and the Gracehoper". It also includes introductory comments on Joyce's use of language by C. K. Ogden, the inventor of Basic English and the co-author of The Meaning of Meaning (1923). Small quarto. Original white paper wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in red and black, publisher's device to rear cover in black. With the publisher's metallic slipcase. Abstract frontispiece portrait of the author by Constantin Brancusi, with tissue… Read More

Paris: Black Sun Press, 1929. First edition. Hardcover. Orig. printed stiff wrappers. Fine in original glassine nicked with some minor loss. Brancusi, Constantin. 55 pages. 21 x 17 cm. Limited edition, copy 325 of 500 on Holland Van Gelder Zonen. Preface by C.K. Ogden. Portrait of the author by C. Brancusi. Title printed in red and black: The three fragments are entitled; "The Mookse and the Gripes. The Muddest Thick That Was Ever Heard Dump. The Ondt and the Gracehoper." Binding by Andrea Kohler. The three fragments comprise pp. 152-159, 282-304 and 414-419 respectively of "Finnegans Wake." The image by Brancusi is a graphic work. THE ARTIST & THE BOOK 1860-1960," notes: "A portrait as abstract as the author's text." This was one of the last books printed at the Black Sun Press. Crosby committed suicide in December, 1929. Slocum and Cahoon A36. Kohler binding in fine red velvet and gold framed slipcase housed in fine black leather spine folding box lettered in red and black.

Paris: Black Sun, 1929. First. paperback. fine/fine. Three Fragments from a Work in Progress. With a "Portrait" by Brancusi. Sq. 8vo, printed wrappers with original glassine. Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1929. First Edition.<br/> <br/> Contains work that was later to appear in Finnegans Wake. Number 66 of 500 copies. Fine, in the original gilt slipcase. Slocum & Cahoon, A-36.<br/> <br/>

Paris: Black Sun Press, 1929. First edition, LIMITED. One of 500 numbered copies on Holland Van Gelder Zonen of a total edition of only 650, this being copy 205. With a preface by C. K. Ogden. With an original etched abstract portrait frontispiece by Constantine Brancusi, it is the only artwork done for a book illustration by the famous sculptor, with tissue guard. Printed in red and black throughout. 8vo, publisher’s original cream paper wrappers printed in red and black, in the original gilt leafed red paperboard slipcase. xv, 55 [2] pp. A fine copy, internally prisitine, a upper hinge with small slit at the gutter, the slipcase a bit worn and lacking the back strip. SCARCE FIRST EDITION LIMITED OF THE SECOND SEPARATELY PRINTED PORTION OF FRAGMENTS OF “A WORK IN PROGRESS”, AND WHAT WOULD ULTIMATELY BECOME FINNEGANS WAKE. FINNEGANS WAKE is perhaps the most ambitiously conceived novel of all time and is the pinnacle of the Modernist movement in literature. Joyce began working on… Read More

Paris: The Black Sun Press, 1929. First edition. Limited, one of 500 numbered copies, printed in red and black on Holland Van Gelder Zonen (650 copies altogether). Provenance: the author's grandson's, Stephen James Joyce's bookplate. Illustrated with the famous abstract portrait by Constantin Brâncuși. In publisher's wrappers. In the original gilt leafed cardboard slipcase. Slipcase slightly worn. Spine somewhat worn and stained. Otherwise in fine condition.. First edition. Limited, one of 500 numbered copies, printed in red and black on Holland Van Gelder Zonen (650 copies altogether). Provenance: the author's grandson's, Stephen James Joyce's bookplate. Illustrated with the famous abstract portrait by Constantin Brâncuși. In publisher's wrappers. In the original gilt leafed cardboard slipcase. [10] XV [1] 55 [7] p., and one loose plate protected with tracing paper. Limited first edition of Joyce's Tales Told of Shem and Shaun, the author's grandson's copy. This book includes three fragments… Read More

Paris: The Black Sun Press 1929, 1929. First edition. Number 38 of 100 copies on Japanese Vellum signed by the author. 4to. 212x168mm. [8], XV, [1], 55, [3]. Original cream paper wrappers lettered in black and red to upper cover and spine and with 'black sun' motif on the lower cover. Original glassine wrapper. Slight chipping to head of spine and there are some tears to the glassine wrapper at the spine and to the front wrapper but overall in very good condition. Internally excellent with only very minor marking in a few places. Housed in the cardboard slipcase covered with green paper and edged in silver paper to which there is some slight marking and wear to the edges. Signed on the half title by James Joyce in black ink and illustrated with Constantin Brancusi's etching Symbole de Joyce, intended by the artist to capture Joyce's "sens du pousser" and described as "a portrait as abstract as the author's text". With a preface by C.K.Ogden who, in the same… Read More