Joyce, James (1882–1941)

Ulysses [Mid-Century Random House Edition in the E. McKnight Kauffer Jacket]

New York: Random House, 1946. Hardcover with Dust Jacket.

An enduring mid-century printing of the Irish modernist masterpiece, notable for retaining the striking, geometric dust jacket design by E. McKnight Kauffer.

KEY FEATURES
+++ Visuals: Features the distinctive typographic dust jacket designed by E. McKnight Kauffer, a seminal figure in Anglo-American graphic design.

+++ Binding: Publisher’s original gray buckram with large initials in black on the front; gilt spine titles with black graphic; beveled edges. Top edge stained dark.

+++ Content: Contains the complete unabridged text, including the Foreword by Morris L. Ernst and the monumental decision of the United States District Court (Judge John M. Woolsey) rendered December 6, 1933, which lifted the ban on the book.

CONDITION: Good / Good -- A presentable copy with structural tenderness. The bindings are tight and square, though the front hinge is starting (webbing visible but attached). Text is clean with light, even age-toning. Moderate shelf handling wear to boards. The price-clipped dust jacket has corner wear, chipping/loss at the head of the spine, and a chip on the top of the toned rear panel. Protected in a removable archival sleeve.
+++ Specs: 8.5 inches tall / xvii, [3], 5-765, [1] pages.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
James Joyce stands as the colossus of 20th-century literature, fundamentally altering the trajectory of fiction with his exploration of the interior life. 'Ulysses', set on a single day in Dublin (June 16, 1904), utilizes a complex parallel to Homer’s 'Odyssey' to dignify the minutiae of everyday life.

By employing stream-of-consciousness, shifting narrative styles, and parodic structures, Joyce broke the constraints of Victorian realism, influencing every major writer who followed, from Faulkner to Beckett.

This 1946 Random House edition is a direct descendant of the legendary 1934 'First Authorized American Edition.' It is historically significant for continuing to disseminate the 'legal' text established after the landmark 1933 obscenity trial, 'United States v. One Book Called Ulysses', in which Judge Woolsey declared the book was not pornographic but rather a sincere experiment in literature. This edition is also prized by design enthusiasts for the dust jacket work of E. McKnight Kauffer, whose Vorticist and Art Deco sensibilities provided a visual language equal to Joyce’s modernism.

SUBJECTS: Irish literature, Stream of consciousness, Modernism, Censorship, Dublin, Leopold Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, 20th-century literature, Modernist fiction, Book design, E. McKnight Kauffer.

Item #21521

Price: $30.00