A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce 1916
JOYCE, James (1882-1941). A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: B.W. Huebsch, 1916.

First edition in book form of Joyce's earliest sustained experimental work, preserving the very rare dust jacket. Portrait's path to publication was rocky to say the least. Originally serialized in Harriet Shaw Weaver's Egoist—then edited by Ezra Pound—between 2 February 1914 and 1 September 1915, the novel faced nearly insurmountable troubles in finding an English publisher. Joyce authorized Weaver to proceed in publishing the book under the Egoist imprint, but the first printers she approached refused the book unless certain paragraphs were removed or modified. Weaver sent the serial publication to Edmond Byrne Hackett in New York, who then contacted B.W. Huebsch, the independent New York publisher who ultimately became responsible for the first edition. Connolly The Modern Movement 26; Slocum & Cahoon A11.

Octavo; original cloth (very minor rubbing to spine ends); printed dust jacket (some chipping and wear to edges; reinforcement on verso to a couple of closed tears and along top edge and flaps, couple of smudges, toning); custom box.