# Is "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce a First Edition?

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

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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)
- Publisher imprint reads Faber & Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Joyce |
| Publisher | Faber & Faber |
| Year | 1939 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published simultaneously in London and New York on 4 May 1939 (Slocum & Cahoon A47) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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).

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Finnegans Wake* by James Joyce a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/finnegans-wake
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.