Signed book: Finnegans Wake. First edition, limited issue, numbered 328/425. NY: Faber & Faber Limited, 1939. Hardcover with slipcase, 7 x 10.25, 628 pages. Signed on the colophon in fountain pen, "James Joyce." Autographic condition: fine. Book condition: VG-/None in a G slipcase, with tape stains to the first free end page, spine darkened, and heavy soiling and scuffing to the case.
After seventeen years of composition—during which bits and pieces of Joyce's 'Work in Progress' were published in literary magazines—Finnegans Wake was finally released in book form by Faber & Faber in 1939. A literary behemoth, the work challenges readers with its complex, multi-layered narrative and linguistic innovations. Its significance lies in its experimental form, pushing the boundaries of conventional storytelling and language. Despite its initial reception as baffling and incomprehensible—thanks to Joyce's use of stream-of-consciousness, playful invented words, and multilingual puns—Finnegans Wake has since been recognized as a groundbreaking work that continues to influence literature and inspire new interpretations, cementing its place as a seminal text in the modernist canon.
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