Joyce (James) Ulysses, first edition, number 218 of 150 copies on verge d'arches, numbered from 101 to 250, from an edition limited to 1000 copies, 2ff. original order form (separated along perforation) loosely inserted, pencil ownership inscription dated "Cambridge, May 1922", endpapers browned, hinges weak, near contemporary cloth, original blue upper and lower wrappers bound in at rear, (some minor fraying along fore-edge of lower wrapper, otherwise both fine), joints lightly rubbed, light fraying to spine ends and corners, "R.M.S. 1922" stamped in gilt to lower cover, [Slocum & Cahoon 17], 4to, Paris, Shakespeare & Company, 1922.

⁂ Scarce copy of Joyce's masterpiece novel and modernist cornerstone. This being the large paper copy from the second smallest limitation before the general handmade paper limitation of 750 copies. The contemporary hand-colouring on the order form - presumably from the publisher - underlines the sold out editions.

The period immediately following the publication of the book was so heightened that Joyce couldn't keep away from his publisher for fear of missing something. "He applied himself to helping us with the parcels... Lavishing glue on the labels, the floor, and his hair, he urged me to get a copy to so and so at once if he had already paid... We managed to get some of the glue out of Joyce's hair with a 'remover' we had, and all the copies of Ulysses safely in the hands of subscribers in England and Ireland before the authorities realized it." (Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company, pp.85-86).