Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$187.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: I am not sure what to make of this little book. There is little information to identify the date or edition of this publication. Some other sellers have stated that the fact the words "Printed in France" indicate that it is the 2nd edition from 1936. OThers have mentioned the Shakespeare edition from 1929 and the notation on the back overleaf of its printing in Chartres Frances on 5-1929 (stated) as indicating a first edition. I simply don't know so will let the description and pictures speak for themselves. The one thing I am sure of is it a very scarce little work! Book is very good in blue cloth boards with golden lettering on the spine. The front board has a couple of brown stains that look a bit like chocolate on it. There is very light rubbing at the bottom of the spine. Other than that and some toning of the outside of the rough cut pages, a great copy, worthy of any collection!
Seller: Big E's Books, Lake City, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1929. A collection of twelve essays and two "Letters of Protest" regarding James Joyce's "Work in Progress" that was eventually published (ten years later) as "Finnegan's Wake." The lead essay by Samuel Beckett is his first publication. Originally issued in wraps by Shakespeare and Company; those sheets were evidently sold to Faber, who issued this, the first hardbound edition. Blue-green cloth binding with gilt titling on the spine. Clean text; 194 pages; no dustwrapper. The paper is tanning - reflecting its poor quality. Rubbed at the margins. A bit fragile - the Title Page has partially loosened. A true artifact of Twentieth-Century modernism. In an archival plastic protector. First Thus. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Seller: Quercus Rare Books, Chico, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$257.65 + shipping
Condition: Poor
Description: By Samuel Beckett, Marcel Brion, Frank Budgen, Stuart gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Victor Llona, Robert McAlmon, Thomas McGreevy, Elliot Paul, John Rodker, Robert Sage, William Carlos Williams. With "Letters Of Protest" by G. V. L. Slingsby and Vladimir Dixon. Covers heavily rubbed and chipped with small tears to edges, some loss to foot of spine, spine creased and discoloured. Roughly cut, and unfortunately the front cover and f-fep are detached but extant with tape between. PP lightly tanned, however, clean, and text bright. Size: 12mo
Seller: Bookcase, Carlisle, United Kingdom
Price: US$385.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo. [6], 194, [4] pp. First edition. A note on the leaf opposite p. 194 notes that 96 copies were printed on verge d'Arches, numbered 1-96. It's uncertain if this is an out of series copy from this limitation or if that statement refers to another edition. In publisher's printed wrappers. Rubber stamped, "Made In / Great Britain" below the date on the title page. A fragile book, the front wrapper is detaching but holding for the moment; a bit of chipping to the bottom of the spine and the inner corner of the front wrapper--not affecting text; wear to the bottom edge of the rear wrapper; narrow tidelines to some areas of the wrapper edges, not intruding into the textblock; textblock is generally and evenly toned; contemporary bookseller's ticket for The Personal Book Shop, Boston on the front free endpaper. This collection of critical essays constituted Joyce's attempt to combat unfavorable reviews of early serialized versions of what would become Finnegans Wake (1939). Here gathered are a dozen essays and two less than favorable "letters," one of which was long thought to have been written by Joyce himself. Of note, this work is Samuel Beckett's first appearance in print with his contribution: "Dante. . . Bruno. Vico. . Joyce" (Federman 1). A remarkable book, capturing the spirit of the expatriate movement--an international cast of writers, publicizing in their way the Irish writer's most challenging work to come, printed by an American in Paris. Such was the time.
Seller: Michael Pyron, Bookseller, ABAA, Conshohocken, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Good condition. This is a trade size softcover book. Spine tips are worn with a 1/2 inch and a one inch tear in paper at bottom of spine. Front cover fore edge is tattered. Three inch damp stain on front cover. A little staining on back cover near spine.
Seller: Jerry Merkel, XENIA, OH, U.S.A.
Price: US$555.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 12mo. pp. 3 p.l., 194, [2]. (extremities of wrs. bit chipped & outer edge of front wr. backed). "Made in Great Britain" stamp to title page, as often. folding clamshell box. First Edition, Regular Paper Issue. A collection of critical essays and two letters written on James Joyces Finnegans Wake, then in the process of being discretely published in sections as Work in Progress. Some of the quoted text was never incorporated into the finished novel, which finally appeared in 1939. Contributors included Samuel Beckett, Marcel Brion, Frank Budgen, Stuart Gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Victor Llona, Robert McAlmon, Thomas McGreevy, Elliot Paul, John Rodker, Robert Sage, and William Carlos Williams. Becketts essay is his first appearance in print. For some time Joyce was suspected as the author of the two letters.
Seller: D & E LAKE LTD. (ABAC/ILAB), Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$662.93 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Browned pages and some marginal misses of first pages corners. The quality of the paper( due to the high degree of acidity) is poor and the reason for the decay of the pages.Copy is complete with a stamp made in Great Britain.Contains Samuel Becketts first published article:Dante Bruno Vico Joyce. First edition and rare.
Seller: Franz Schmadl, Zug, Switzerland
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First trade edition. Limited to 200 copies. Stamped "Made in Great Britain" at base of title page. Very good+ copy in printed paper wrappers. (Bottom inch of spine chipped. Right-hand corner of front cover faintly damp-stained. Binding brittle, but solid. ) Features Samuel Beckett's FIRST appearance in print "Dante. Bruno. Vico. Joyce."
Seller: WAVERLEY BOOKS ABAA, Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: A collection of essays examining the Joyce work that would ultimately become Finnegan's Wake. Published by Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Company of Paris in 1929. Bound in publisher's tan wrappers, in original glassine dust wrapper. Authors include Samuel Becket ( his first appearance in print ) Marcel Brion, Frank Budgen, Stuart Gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Victor Llona, Robert McAlmon, Thomas McGreevy, Elliot Paul, John Rodker, Robert Sage and William Carlos Williams. One of the copies in the small first trade printing ( bearing the un-numbered limitation page stating that 96 numbered copies have been printed on Verge D'Arches paper. ) A near fine copy with the bookplate of Lawrence Flinn and a short tear to upper corner of front panel effecting both book and glassine. Light penciled notes to last two end pages ( bearing no text. ) The exceptionally uncommon glassine wrapper is very good with the tear mentioned and a little toning at the spine. Please note that the photos of the book are with the glassine jacket in place.
Seller: The Reluctant Bookseller, Albany, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$4500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, English(?) issue, published by Shakespeare and Company in Paris with publisher's rubberstamp: "Made in Great Britain" at lower margin of title page. Small octavo. Printed wrappers. Printed wrappers. Ink owner name on the front flyleaf ("Charles Forman Brown") and linoleum-cut bookplate of musician Max Hughes on verso of half-title page, moderate toning and rubbing at extremities of the wrappers, some creasing on front wrap and toning on the cheap acidic paper, an about very good copy of a fragile publication. Contains Samuel Beckett's essay, "Dante. Bruno. Vico. Joyce" (on Joyce's "Work in Progress"), being Beckett's first appearance in any book. Also contains the first book appearance of extracts from "Work in Progress," by James Joyce, including a passage that was not included in *Finnegans Wake*. Inscribed by Beckett: "for Dan Pope, Samuel Beckett" at the first page of Beckett's contribution, at the top margin of the page. Very uncommon signed.
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$6441.31 + shipping
Description: By Samuel Beckett, Marcel Brion, Frank Budgen, Stuart Gilbert, Eugene Jolas, Victor Llona, Robert McAlmon, Thomas McGreevy, Elliott Paul, John Rodker, Robert Sage, William Carlos Williams with Letters of Protest by G.V.L. Slingsby and Vladimir Dixon. Small 4to., original printed wrappers with elaborate typographic roundel. First edition, one of 96 copies (No. 73) on Verge d'Arches. 8vo., original cream printed wrappers. Uncut and unopened. Paris, Shakespeare & Co. This collection of critical essays on Joyce's Finnegans Wake (being published in instalments) was a sort of circling of the wagons by the Anglophone intellectuals of Paris. Beckett was much in Joyce's company at the time, and this essay (the first of the essays here published, by virtue of the alphabet) is his first publication. It takes few intellectual prisoners: ? . . . if you don?t understand it, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is because you are too decadent to receive it . His writing is not about something; it is that something itself? A very good copy with some slight overall soiling to the wrappers and two short areas of wear at the foot of each hinge, preserved in a handsome modern slipcase.
Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Description: [3]-194, [2] p. 191 x 140 mm. (7 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.). Original printed paper wrappers. Copy no. 60 of 96 numbered copies printed on Arches paper. Mogens Boisen's copy (the Danish translator of Ulysses) inscribed to him by Sylvia Beach, and with two letters from him to a former owner, explaining the circumstances. Small chip from rear wrapper edge, light creasing on front wrapper, otherwise a fine copy. In a folding box, with the announcement. "Dante.Bruno. Vico.Joyce" published here constitutes Samuel Beckett's first appearance in print.
Seller: Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books (ABAA), CHESTER, CT, U.S.A.