Skip to content

Ulysses
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Ulysses Paperback - 2004

by Seamus, Deane


About this book

Ulysses is a modernist novel by James Joyce. It was first serialized in The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920 and later published by Shakespeare and Company in 1922. Originally, Joyce conceived of Ulysses as a short story to be included in Dubliners, but decided instead to publish it as a long novel, situated as a sort of sequel to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, picking up Stephen Dedalus’s life over a year later. Ulysses takes place on a single day, June 16, 1904, in Dublin - now celebrated as Bloomsday annually.

Within the massive text of 265,000 words (not so “short” anymore, eh?), divided into 18 episodes, Joyce radically shifts narrative style with each new episode, completely abandoning the previously accepted notions of plot, setting, and characters. The presentation of a fragmented reality through interior perception in Ulysses, often through stream-of-consciousness, is one of many reasons it is considered a paramount in Modernist literature. 

Ulysses presents a series of parallels with Homer’s epic poem Odyssey (Ulysses is the Latinized name of Odysseus.) Not only can correspondences be drawn between the main characters of each text — Stephen Dedalus to Telemachus, Leopold Bloom to Odysseus, and Molly Bloom to Penelope, but each of the 18 episodes of Ulysses reflects an adventure from the Odyssey.

In 1998, the American publishing firm Modern Library ranked Ulysses first on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

February 2022 will mark the centennial of the publishing of Ulysses, with auctions, sales, and celebrations by Joyce fans scheduled around the globe.

From our Book Collecting Guide: Collecting Ulysses 
https://www.biblio.com/book-collecting/basics/collecting-one-book/collecting-ulysses-by-james-joyce/

First Edition Identification

Unable to find a publisher in the U.S. or U.K., Ulysses was first published in book form by Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1922. This first edition appeared in blue and white printed wrappers in an edition of only 1,000 copies which are among the most highly sought after modern first editions, commanding prices in the range of $40,000 - $75,000. A signed first edition could easily fetch over $100,000.

Details

  • Title Ulysses
  • Author Seamus, Deane
  • Binding Paperback
  • Publisher Houyhnhnm (A)
  • Date 2004
  • ISBN 9780954771003
Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

Ulysses
More Photos

Ulysses: A New Reader's Edition

by Joyce, James

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
First Edition; Numbered Issue, limited to 75 copies.
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780954771003 / 0954771001
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Ballydehob, Cork, Ireland
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
SGD 406.20
SGD 88.63 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
New, as issued. Octavo (21.5x14cm). Red cloth over boards, stamped in silver on front cover and spine, with black head- and tail-bands and black satin page-marker, presented in a matching slipcase. Text set in Bembo on light cream-white wove paper. Signed by the Editor. Scarce: 101 copies issued in two limitations: 26 copies lettered A-Z; 75 numbered copies. This is one of 75 copies of the Numbered Issue. Published on the 100th anniversary of the day upon which the story of "Ulysses" takes place. The text of this edition is that of the 1997 Lilliput and Picador/Macmillan editions but "revised to comply with strictures newly imposed by the courts" following the suit filed in 2001 against the original "Reader's Edition".
Item Price
SGD 406.20
SGD 88.63 shipping to USA
Ulysses
More Photos

Ulysses: A New Reader's Edition

by Joyce, James

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Used - Fine
Edition
First Edition; Lettered Issue, limited to 26 copies.
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780954771003 / 0954771001
Quantity Available
2
Seller
Ballydehob, Cork, Ireland
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
SGD 480.06
SGD 88.63 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
New, as issued. Octavo (21.5x14cm). Red cloth over boards, stamped in silver on front cover and spine, with black head- and tail-bands and black satin page-marker, presented in a matching slipcase. Text set in Bembo on light cream-white wove paper. Signed by the Editor. Scarce: 101 copies issued in two limitations: 26 copies lettered A-Z; 75 numbered copies. This is one of 26 copies of the Lettered Issue. Published on the 100th anniversary of the day upon which the story of "Ulysses" takes place. The text of this edition is that of the 1997 Lilliput and Picador/Macmillan editions but "revised to comply with strictures newly imposed by the courts" following the suit filed in 2001 against the original "Reader's Edition".
Item Price
SGD 480.06
SGD 88.63 shipping to USA