ULYSSES by Joyce James - 1936

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1936. First Edition, English Issuance, First Authorized English edition, one of 900 copies only, printed on special Japon vellum papers, probably the most beautiful First Edition of ULYSSES ever printed. Tall, thick, royal 8vo, publisher’s original full green polished linen buckram with the gilt lettering and pictorial decoration of the gilt bow designed by Eric Gill on the upper cover and spine, top edge gilt. [xvi], 766 pp. A beautifully preserved copy, the covers of the green cloth in bright and beautiful condition without any of the fading typical to the book, the back without the usual fading and only very slight mellowing to the panel. An excellent survival with all aspects of a collector’s demands in good order. A HIGHLY IMPORTANT LITERARY FIRST EDITION, ARGUABLY THE GREATEST WORK OF FICTION OF THE 2OTH CENTURY. This an especially well preserved and pleasing copy of the first authorized English edition. IT IS ALSO THE FIRST EDITION of ULYSSES PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. The superb binding executed in full polished linen buckram has been especially designed for this great book. DESIGNS FOR THE BINDING, EXECUTED IN GILT WERE ACCOMPLISHED BY ERIC GILL, ONE OF THE MOST GIFTED MASTERS OF THE ART.
The typeface is extremely attractive and very readable, the printing on fine paper makes the book unusually handsome and presents what is perhaps the most beautiful printing of ULYSSES ever accomplished.
Along with the text, there are a series of appendices attached including copies of the International Protest against the unauthorized and mutilated printings of ULYSSES done especially in the United States; a copy of the injunction issued to prevent Samuel Roth from continuing his piracies of ULYSSES; a copy of Joyce’s letter to Bennet Cerf concerning the promotion, legal fight and publication of ULYSSES on the author’s behalf; a copy of the decision of the US District Court which was rendered on December 6, 1933 which lifted the ban on ULYSSES and a copy of the subsequent decision of the US Court of Appeals rendered in August of the following year which upheld the original decision; a copy of the forward to the first American edition and a bibliography of the works of James Joyce.
ULYSSES can be viewed as the pinnacle of the Modernist movement, and its impact on all subsequent western literature is unmistakable. Such writers as Virginia Woolf, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Samuel Beckett, Malcolm Lowry, and Anthony Burgess have all paid tribute, consciously or unconsciously, to Joyce's influence. Burgess as well pronounced it the greatest single work in the English literature of the last century, and he is not alone in that opinion.