Finnegans Wake
James Joyce, 1939
JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Finnegans Wake. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1939.

First edition, trade issue. “The most conspicuous innovation of Finnegans Wake is its use of 'dream-language'. After Ulysses Joyce believed that he had 'come to the end of English', and his last novel is a pervasive layering of multilingual puns in successive drafts which produces a fabric rich in semantic possibilities but almost impenetrable to the general reader” (ODNB). Connolly 87; Slocum and Cahoon A47.

Octavo. Original cloth; printed dust jacket (minor edgewear and a little chipping to top of front panel, small tape repair to verso, spine panel with faint toning); custom box. Provenance: Edward Eaton (ownership inscription).