Is My Finnegans Wake a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published simultaneously in London and New York on 4 May 1939 (Slocum & Cahoon A47)
• Faber trade issue: 3,400 sets of sheets printed, of which 2,255 were bound and sold, 950 were destroyed by the publisher and the remainder given away; gilt-stamped red cloth, untrimmed/partially unopened, in the red-and-yellow dust jacket — unclipped copies retain the price at the flap
• Viking trade issue: 6,000 copies, black cloth lettered in gilt on the front board and spine, printed offset from reproduction/advance proofs supplied by Faber
• Signed limited issue: 425 large-paper copies signed by Joyce, bound in brick-red buckram with the spine gilt-titled and triple-ruled, top edge gilt, untrimmed, in a yellow cloth slipcase; jointly issued by Faber and Viking and divided between the two markets
• Sources conflict on two details, so neither is asserted: the Slocum & Cahoon number for the limited issue (catalogued variously as A47 and A49), and the split of the limitation (the statement of limitation reserves 125 copies for Britain and 300 for America, while a Viking Press letter of 9 September 1947 records 310 sent to the United States, bound in the US from Faber sheets under English-made covers)

How Faber & Faber marked a first edition

• First printings state "First published in [Year]" (often "First published in mcmxxxx") on the copyright/verso page, with no list of later impressions
• Prior to 1968 the year was set in ROMAN NUMERALS (e.g. 'First published in mcmliv'); from 1968 onward Arabic numerals were used — a key dating tell

Full Faber & Faber first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Faber (London) and Viking (New York) are simultaneous co-firsts, both published 4 May 1939 by design; neither is a second edition, and both are collected. The census claim that 'the London trade issue takes precedence with collectors' states a preference as a fact and is softened here. What is documented is that the Viking edition was photographically offset from proofs Faber supplied, so the Faber setting is the source of the text and the Faber issue is the one usually treated as the primary first; Christie's catalogues the Faber as the 'first regular English edition', distinguishing it from the signed limited issue. Best practice is to name the issue (Faber trade, Viking trade, or signed limited) rather than to call any one of them 'the first'.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The 16-page pamphlet 'Corrections of Misprints in Finnegans Wake... As Prepared by the Author after Publication of the First Edition' (Faber, 1945) is a separate later publication, not a first-edition point; copies offered with it loosely inserted are still 1939 firsts, but the pamphlet's presence neither makes nor confirms one. Later Faber and Viking printings incorporate those corrections into the text and are the standard reprint trap. No book-club issue is documented for the 1939 first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Finnegans Wake a first edition?

A first edition of Finnegans Wake by James Joyce (Faber & Faber) is identified by: Published simultaneously in London and New York on 4 May 1939 (Slocum & Cahoon A47).

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Faber (London) and Viking (New York) are simultaneous co-firsts, both published 4 May 1939 by design; neither is a second edition, and both are collected.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

The 16-page pamphlet 'Corrections of Misprints in Finnegans Wake... As Prepared by the Author after Publication of the First Edition' (Faber, 1945) is a separate later publication, not a first-edition point; copies offered with it loosely inserted are still 1939 firsts, but the pamphlet's presence neither makes nor confirms one. Later Faber and Viking printings incorporate those corrections into the text and are the standard reprint trap. No book-club issue is documented for the 1939 first.

I have a first edition of Finnegans Wake — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.