Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Joyce, James. Chamber Music.. Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918.
Price: US$417.59 + shipping
Description: First American Edition p.p. xxxvi. Original green cloth, gilt title. Small octavo. B.P. Rare unauthorised first American edition limited to about 1,000 copies.
Seller: Healy Rare Books, Galway, Ireland
JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Chamber Music. The Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918.
Price: US$424.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Unauthorized American Edition of Joyce's first regularly published work, with print run estimated at 1000 copies. Small, slim 8vo: 20 unnumbered leaves, with 36 numbered Elizabethan-like poems chronicling the growth of a young poet's love for a golden-haired woman (the collection originally comprised 34 love poems, but "All day I hear the noise of waters" and "I hear an army charging upon the land," which Yeats described as a "technical and emotional masterpiece," were added before publication). Publisher's green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed, wove end papers (some copies with laid end papers, no known priority. Without the fragile transparent tissue wrapper. An exemplary example virtually pristine, covers firmly attached, binding tight, gilt stamping sharp (Slocum & Cahoon note variations in stamping). Slocum & Cahoon A5. Originally published in 1907, in London. The first authorized American edition, published in New York by B. W. Huebsch, appeared three months after this Cornhill issue. "Although it is widely reported that the title refers to the sound of urine tinkling in a chamber pot, this is a later Joycean embellishment, lending an earthiness to a title first suggested by his brother Stanislaus and which Joyce (by the time of publication) had come to dislike . . . In Ulysses, Leopold Bloom reflects, 'Chamber music. Could make a pun on that.' In fact, the poetry of Chamber Music is not in the least bawdy, nor reminiscent of the sound of tinkling urine. In 1909, Joyce wrote to his wife, 'When I wrote [Chamber Music], I was a lonely boy, walking about by myself at night and thinking that one day a girl would love me.'" (Wikipedia) "As the title suggests, [Chamber Music] is to be considered a set of songs rather than a collection of poems, as Joyce clearly stated in a letter to the English composer Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer (15 July 1909): 'I hope you may set all of Chamber Music in time. This was indeed partly my idea in writing it. The book is in fact a suite of songs . . .' Besides Palmer, a number of composers have set the poems to music, including Samuel Barber." (Literary Encyclopedia) Note: With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
JOYCE, James. Chamber Music. The Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American edition, issue with laid endpapers. 12mo. 40pp. Green cloth stamped in gold. Small tape shadows on endpapers where a previous owner probably tried to preserve the original unprinted glassine (apparently without success), else a very near fine copy lacking the tissue dust jacket. *Slocum & Cahoon* A5: issued with either wove or laid paper endpapers, with no priority determined.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
JOYCE, James. Chamber Music. The Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American edition, issue with wove endpapers. 12mo. 40pp. Green cloth stamped in gold. Small ink squiggle on front pastedown and very small chip at the corner of rear fly, near fine lacking the publisher's unprinted tissue dust jacket. *Slocum & Cahoon* A5: issued with either wove or laid paper endpapers, with no priority determined.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Joyce, James. Chamber Music. The Cornhill Company, Boston, MA, 1918.
Price: US$725.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition/Pirate Edition. Hardcover. Unauthorized American Edition which precedes the First Authorized American Edition. Believed to be a print run of 1000 copies. A very handsome copy of this rather scarce volume. Seldom found in such lovely condition. Hint of shelf/edge wear, else tight, bright and unmarred. Green cloth boards, gilt lettering, deckled paper. 12mo. np. 36 numbered poems.
Seller: Lux Mentis, Booksellers, ABAA/ILAB, Portland, ME, U.S.A.
JOYCE, James. Chamber Music. The Cornhill Company, Boston, 1918.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First American edition, issue with wove endpapers. 12mo. 40pp. Green cloth stamped in gold. A fine copy, with text partially unopened in about fine publisher's unprinted tissue dust jacket with very slight wear. *Slocum & Cahoon* A5- issued with either wove or laid paper endpapers, with no priority determined.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Joyce, James.. Chamber Music. Cornhill, 1918.
Price: US$1000.03 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 12mo., green cloth, gilt stamped, (36)pp. First American edition, unauthorized, Boston: The Cornhill Company. Earliest review noted: New York Call (The Call Magazine), 22 June 1918. (First authorized American edition was published New York: B. W. Huebsch, 30 September 1918. (Cahoon A:5,6)
Seller: Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books , Toronto, ON, Canada