Ulysses - latest edition.

Hi fellow devotees,

I have a chance to buy the latest edition of Ulysses in near fine condition for $200. Is it a fair price or should I keep looking.

Thanks in advance.

Grab it!

Get it.

I mean, or don't and tell me where to find it.

>4 Cubby.R.S.: Or tell me!

You guys are such enablers. I bought it today, pics are coming up.

>6 folioaddict: For perspective, I bought a copy when it first came out (never dreaming it would make the half price sale) for $225.

Here’s a few pics of my Ulysses. It’s a great edition and I would say worth the price you have paid.

The main thing to note is that it’s enormous. The final pic below shows it stood alongside a “standard” size Folio. You won’t want to be reading this thing outside the house!

>8 LondonLawyer:

To this day, I can't believe it sold out while it was in my cart. Thanks for posting the pictures.

>9 Cubby.R.S.: Ha! The same for me... I should've known that it would sell out fast, but - despite diphcoracl's urgings - I also tarried too long.

I ended up paying full price for it from someone who bought 10 copies at half price, but I have no regrets - it is amazing

I do so wish FS would take this off the blasted website already and quit teasing me at the bottom of the page on related books. My hopes have been dashed too many times now.

>1 folioaddict: I'm so glad you bought it. I panicked briefly on your behalf, between your opening post and your second, that you'd hesitate, miss it and suffer horrid regret. It's a superb edition, clearly superior to any other Ulysses edition, even Folio's earlier LE. The print run was comparatively small and it frankly deserves the high price it commands on the secondary market. The last one to sell on eBay.co.uk fetched £435, so consider yours a bargain.

We need to start a petition to get this thing reprinted. Please allow us to shower you with money, FS!

>12 cronshaw:
Edited to remove potential violation of terms of use. Hoping the cottage comment in >16 cronshaw: below can be read with greater lenience : )

I am reading a page a week of the Finnegans Wake edition right now and the Joyce lover and book completist in me occasionally wishes I had bought the latest edition of Ulysses to go with it. But there just wasn't enough there for me given my book budget and my other six editions of Ulysses. Beautiful though. I'd have a hard time walking away from it in a used bookstore if the price was decent.

>14 GusLogan: LOL I'm sure a few people would! Yes, you're right I already have one, and consider myself most fortunate, especially as it was a Folio sale bargain. I've been reducing the size of my over-bloated library lately, but this is one edition I couldn't possibly part with. Obviously, if someone were to offer me a small cottage in the Lake District in exchange I would seriously consider softening my position.

>12 cronshaw: It definitely was a bargain on the secondary market and that last price on Ebay seems to be the norm (there is another up for $500 starting bid at the moment which will probably sell). I have the 1998 Folio version which is fine to read but the newer edition is just gorgeous. One of Folios best. I would snap it up if they ever reissue it but I don't see it happening any time soon if ever.

Don't get me wrong, I love this edition and happily paid full price when it first came out but why would the Folio Society reprint it when they had to unload so many copies at half price?

Personally, I agree that it’s beautiful, but I wish it was a bit shorter! Find it so bulky to hold!

>18 kdweber: it looks like based on the current demand and pricing that Folio didn’t have to unload all those copies at such a hefty discount and probably ended up leaving money on the table. Easy to say in hindsight, of course, but as a post mortem evaluation it seems like a misstep, perhaps driven by some suboptimal internal bookkeeping metrics.

It’s also possible that second order marketing effects provide return on cost of promotion, though that would be hard to evaluate, even with access to internal sales data.

>18 kdweber: Do we know how many copies they sold at half price? It could simply have been the case that at that time FS wanted to rationalise their warehouse space and so reduced the price of their remaining copies of this large edition to create storage space quickly rather than pay for further warehousing capacity elsewhere.

>18 kdweber:
>21 cronshaw:

I think there is an excellent chance that cronshaw is correct and it may have been put on sale to manage their inventory. In tracking the sales for the last few years, I've noted that a number of books sell out the first time they are put on sale. That at least suggests that Folio may use the sales to as cronshaw suggests. Taking a look back at my sales spreadsheet, Ulysses was one of the books that sold out the first time it went on sale. And my memory is that it sold out quickly, suggesting there were relatively few copies left (or it was VERY popular). My sense (without basis) is that Folio has been more carefully managing its inventory in recent years and prints less copies of books it expects to have a limited audience. I suspect Ulysses falls into that category. But, as in all things Folio, its anyone's guess what they will do with respect to a possible reprint.

After seeing my husband (who is a lot bigger than me!) try to hold and read this book, I’ve decided it’s too big for my liking. Anyone in Canada interested in buying it, feel free to reach out via PM and make an offer.

I have the standard edition in blue from 1998 that I picked up three months for £40. Much prefer this design.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ULYSSES-JAMES-JOYCE-PALADINO-Folio-Society-1998-1st-P...

Preface by Stephen James Joyce, introduced by Jacques Aubert with etchings by Mimmo Paladino.

I also have the LE, which is the text but different binding, but haven’t gone around to reading this yet, so the question beckons why this new edition so popular?

>24 ironjaw:

Try >8 LondonLawyer: above, Faisel. And >12 cronshaw:

>24 ironjaw: I agree but is the main difference that there has been corrections? Ie restoring the 1922 text that’s mentioned?

2022 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses and there should be some publicity around this. I'm wondering if there is any possibility of another Ulysses LE being released - or is it too early after the last LE? Has FS done 2 LEs for any book? Or perhaps the last SE will be rereleased?

FWIW having read Ulysses I'm not sure it is a good choice in general for a large heavy volume, particularly given that many people will be looking at secondary sources as well while reading it. I read a paperback myself and used 2 secondary sources but in retrospect might have read the Naxos app version where you can more easily get an explanation of the obscure references https://www.naxos.com/feature/Joyces-Ulysses.asp

>27 punkzip:

The fine edition of 2017 is widely regarded as being superior to the 2004 LE. IMO I doubt Folio will be looking to publish another version (and almost certainly not another LE) so quickly. Having said that, it's Folio so who the hell knows?

>27 punkzip: Thornwillow will also be releasing a letterpress edition in the coming months- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thornwillow/james-joyces-ulysses-the-centen...

>28 folio_books: Is it? I'm in the minority then. I don't have the fine edition, if you are talking about the one that is in series with the Finnegans Wake they did in 2014. I wouldn't trade my 2004 LE for the 2017 FE and I didn't buy the FE despite my love of Joyce and my completest desire to have the companion to the Wake because it didn't offer enough vs. my other editions. Now the Thornwillow is probably going to be harder to resist...

>27 punkzip: If you have read Ulysses once with all the supplemental material, I would recommend your next read, if you go for it, be unencumbered by all that. Although I don't do many audiobooks, I did listen to an excellent one on Ulysses on a long cross-country drive, so that's another option to experiencing the flow of the novel.

>30 jveezer: Yes I actually listed to the RTE radio production of Ulysses as well during my reading which enhanced the experience for sure

>30 jveezer: I'm in the minority then.

I chose my words carefully: "widely regarded" v "largely regarded". In truth I have no idea on which side the majority lies, just a guess.

>29 SolerSystem: I see they have released information & pricing on the Thornwillow Ulysses. There are so many binding options, with the most expensive version coming out at around $16,500 !! I wonder if anyone buying the $16,500 set would actually ever read it or it would sit in its clamshell boxes untouched as an ‘investment’ ?

>31 punkzip: I did the same, very helpful and enjoyable.

Someone on the Facebook group asked FS if there are any plans for the Ulysses centenary next year and they said there was but aren’t revealing anything yet. So there is maybe a reprint on the horizon which would be great news for those who missed out on the original run. I had been considering the new Thornwillow but it would a big price jump for one book for me and a stoppage of other book buying for a while. I do like the FS version but the one issue I had with it was the extra large size. The 1998 version i have is fine for reading but is rather plain and as it is a book I tend to reread I want to upgrade. Though I could be wrong and FS may do something else other than a reprint.

>35 assemblyman: I have also passed (at least for now) on the Thornwillow, I just can't justify the cost to myself (less a reflection of Thornwillow's value, more a reflection of the amount I want to spend on a nice edition of Ulysses).

I will be interested to see what Folio produce, if it is a reprint I will likely get it, although something new might be more exciting!

Yes you have phrased my thoughts on it better than myself though the payment plan is a good idea which could sway me before the end.

The worry with the FS is they may release an LE rather than a reissue which turns out to be more than I can spend on it. First world problems :)

>35 assemblyman: Not the $16,500 Thornwillow? That definitely is a big price jump !

>38 antinous_in_london: Ha no not that one, i was looking more at their 4 volume clothbound edition which would be more within my range though would still easily be well over anything I have spent previously on one book. My budget is usually more modest on books though I have been stretching it this year. I will have to think some more on it.

>37 assemblyman:

Going by recent trends, I wouldn't be at all surprised if FS issue an LE, signed by someone who happens to be in the building at the time, with a couple of posters thrown in, and strictly limited to the number of Bloomsdays since original publication. The eighteen episodes will be individually bound and housed in little trays within a large clamshell box stamped with a map of Dublin that lights up in the dark.

>40 boldface: I will have to start saving my coppers. I want that glow in the dark map :)

>40 boldface:
... and all this will come in at a bargain £1922 ;)

>40 boldface: Nearly spit out my coffee reading this. It's funny because it's an accurate description of the current state of LEs.

>40 boldface: Maybe they'll even include an official Davy Bryne's Gorgonzola sandwich with the LE...Expedited shipping recommended outside the U.K.

>40 boldface: Haha, well done! I’ll take two!

I have not read Ulysses yet. I have read so many different opinions on Ulysses. I wonder if it is worth the effort to understand it. I wonder if it is worth buying a guide and putting in the time. Hmmmm

>46 RickFlair: I think Ulysses is a good book but I'm in the camp that never understood the hype of both Ulysses and Joyce as an author. Still, to this day, I am always shocked when I see Portrait of an Artist make the top 50 or 100 books of all time. There are so many better 20th century European novelists than Joyce and I never understood the accolades he received. Even with Finnegan's Wake, it is just so pretentious and there are so many wonderful novels out there, I would never bother but to each their own. In Search of Lost Time (I know, impossible competition) was written during the same decade as Ulysses and is better in every single way. Mind you, consider the source, since I recently just paid $2400 for Thornwillow's Ulysses.

>46 RickFlair:
I believe in the dictum that a writer who is hard to understand is not a good writer. I can deal with difficult concepts but not with prose that is purposely made difficult to follow.

>47 Joshbooks1: What? lol. Why did you buy an expensive Ulysses?

>46 RickFlair: It really depends on the sort of reader you are. If you need to understand every aspect of a book and need a linear narrative story, you will not like it (there is a story though). If, however, you can accept that you will never understand (and it's likely that no one but Joyce himself ever would) the intentionally esoteric parts, it is the greatest thing any human has ever written.

It is a book that can be enjoyed on a surface level for the depth of understanding Joyce has about the nature of thought, emotion, faith, time, nationality ,and reality. It can also be enjoyed at an infinite rabbit hole level of depth that you could delve into for the rest of your days if you were inclined. On my first reading, I was determined to go through it cover to cover as a sort of feather in my cap. I understood maybe 40% of it but LOVED that 40%.

The second time I armed myself like one would before reading Dante. I got a book of notes on Ulysses, and listened to Frank Delaney's podcast on Ulysses called RE:Joyce. It was a deeply rewarding experience and the pinnacle of my reading life. Highly recommend climbing that mountain.

>50 L.Bloom: And that's the debate and what makes literature and everything else exciting at times - how different people are when it comes to pretty much everything. I believe I understood the majority of Ulysses, or as much as I care to understand, but could easily name 25-50 books in the 20th century which I thought surpassed Ulysses. Unfortunately I did not take away what you did and maybe will go back to it one day but have no desire really to do so after ten years. The same could be said from another about the books that I hold dear and have no equal. I have no logical or rational explanation but there has always been something about Joyce which annoyed me.

I have just realised that I’ve got six different versions of the Ulysses including three folios: fine edition, limited edition and standard editions; thornwillow cloth edition in four on its way and other publishers.

>51 Joshbooks1: I’m curious too why you would order a $2400 edition if Joyce annoys you?

>53 RRCBS: As I said before, I don't hate Ulysses and enjoyed the novel, I just find it overrated and believe there are many authors in the 20th century that surpass Joyce. I also believe Thornwillow is one of the best fine presses out there and couldn't pass up on their half-leather edition. If there was more variety and options from fine press publishers I would certainly choose the alternative but unfortunately there are not. I'm sure I'll be satisfied with the edition which will likely want me to reread the novel, the problem is life is so finite and there are many books I'd rather read or reread.

I also highly recommend listening to an audio book or reading of Ulysses. I am not a big consumer of audio books (I think I've listened to three: The Lord of the Rings, Dubliners, and Ulysses) but the ones I have heard were great and listened to after multiple reads of the books themselves.

I love Ulysses and Joyce. I love books I have to puzzle out and that give me more each time I reread them. I only buy books I'm going to read, especially if they are pricey, so my purchase of the upcoming Thornwillow means I'll be reading Ulysses again. I'm looking forward to it.

For me it's really the Wake that is a big challenge. But on my second read, of the sweet Folio Society edition, I'm really enjoying it by reading a page a week. Bite size chunks. Carol Wade, of the amazing 'Art of the Wake' on twitter started a reading group to go through it that way and though the group petered out, I'm still going. And, life permitting, I have another read of the Wake ahead of me to read the Houyhnhnm Press edition.

>55 jveezer: Which version do you have of the Houyhnhnm Press Finnegan’s Wake?

>50 L.Bloom: "The second time I armed myself like one would before reading Dante". That's the way I approached it, and I listened to the RTE reading as I read, which helped a lot. And I loved it!

A quick interesting article of quotes from famous authors on the polarity of Joyce's Ulysses:

https://lithub.com/ulysses-good-or-bad/

>58 Joshbooks1: yes that exact article is what gave me pause about this book

>59 RickFlair:

I was moved to look into it forty-odd years ago by Ezra Pound's advocacy, and I read most, possibly all, of it, but without developing any enthusiasm. Even so I bought the Folio edition in a sale, with the vague intention of opening it sooner or later. There's nothing very like Ulysses, so why not just start reading and see what happens when you do? Could be you'll rapidly feel in agreeable territory, could be you'll be sufficiently intrigued to return better armed at a later date, or twenty pages might be more than enough.

>58 Joshbooks1:

I've not read Ulysses (yet). But there were far more authors on that list who I have enjoyed and trust on the 'for' list than the 'against' list.

>61 Jobasha:

I think the Against crew would edge it for me, I've probably spent more time in the past thirty years reading George Moore than I've spent with the other 21 put together. The book's at least a fascinating test of the various ways we find literature inviting, compelling, satisfying or enriching at all.

>62 terebinth:
The polarising nature is certainly alluring to me, so I'll probably pull out the FS standard edition soonish.

I'm also sorry to say I'd never heard of George Moore until this article. He'll have to go on my TBR.

>56 assemblyman: The trade edition of 800 copies...

>64 jveezer: It's one I don't see pictures of too often but a lovely edition.

>62 terebinth: speaking of Moore, while browsing in a used book store last year I chanced across a beautiful numbered first edition of Aphrodite in Aulis printed on handmade paper and bound in full vellum from hand-set type published by Heinemann. I think I paid around $100 CAD? I forget now, but it was around that figure.

I am not particularly familiar with his work actually, but the story looked like something I would enjoy and the aesthetics of the production were *chef's kiss*.

A quick glance at current secondary market prices makes it look like it can still be acquired for a quite reasonable price.

>65 assemblyman: I wish I would have been aware of it in time to consider the special edition on mouldmade paper and bound in calfskin but I probably would have still ended up with the trade due to budgetary constraints. I consider myself lucky to have the trade edition. But I would love to see/hold one of those specials!

>67 jveezer: Yes it looks fantastic though if you have both the standard edition and the FS edition your not doing too bad :). I have only a paperback currently. Though I have read and enjoyed Joyce’s other works multiple times I have only attempted Finnegan’s Wake once. It was right after I read Ulysses for the first time years ago and I felt confident I could continue right through Finnegan’s Wake. I was wrong and I haven’t got around to attempting it again since though I will get there in time. I may upgrade the paperback in the attempt :).

>66 abysswalker: It sounds a lot like my 1930 Riverside Press edition, signed by Moore, full vellum, chemise and leather slipcase. My copy cost $31 in 2013. Beautiful edition but only a so so read.

>66 abysswalker:, >69 kdweber:

"An unmistakable air of having been written by a very old man", Charles Morgan says of the work in his "epitaph" on Moore. Listings on ABE mostly seem to point to the binding being parchment rather than true vellum, perhaps no bad thing as in my experience century-old vellum more often than not causes seriously warped boards: I lacked the book and so have ordered a copy anyway. I do have signed limited editions of several of Moore's works, all superbly printed on fine paper. In his later years he favoured the format for quite a number of his books, and the 1000-2000 copies produced seem more than enough to satisfy his present-day admirers and keep prices to a very affordable level.

>66 abysswalker:

I have the equivalent vellum edition of The Brook Kerith : A Syrian Story - no. 16 of 375 copies, signed by Moore and the artist, Stephen Gooden (12 engravings, beautifully done). It's not a first edition. The novel was first published in 1916 and this LE is dated 1929, although it's probably a first with these illustrations.

>48 jroger1: that's a narrow belief

>72 thebookrunner:

Well, "prose that is purposely made difficult to follow" sounds repellent to me: I'm confident, for instance, that it never crossed Henry James' mind to undertake anything so perverse, but he's still often categorised as "a writer who is hard to understand", and compared, say, to Lee Child, he most certainly can be. A bad writer? Hardly, though late James will never be everyone's cup of tea: but what is?

I’ll never get the appeal of using my scant spare time to read something that is a slog to go through. I saw someone say they could only read one page of Ulysses per day, and my first thought was why even bother?

>74 What_What: yes, Ulysses parses the difference between ‘worthy’ and ‘worthwhile’ quite nicely, at least for me

>74 What_What: If you're referring my comment somewhere on this or a related thread, I was talking about Finnegans Wake, not Ulysses. And it's not that I can't read more than one page, but that's how I choose to read it on this re-read....

As to the difficulty of Ulysses I would say that if we limited ourselves to books for which the only context needed for enjoyment is between the covers of the book itself it would be very limiting indeed.
For example, one can enjoy War and Peace without knowledge of the Napoleonic wars, 19th century European politics, or the great man theory of history. BUT one's enjoyment would be greatly enriched by prior knowledge of these subjects.
The same is true of The Commedia with medieval theology, astrology, and ancient literature.
The same is true of Ulysses with Irish history, theology, and ancient literature (and myriad other subjects which the erudite Joyce weaves into the work).

That said: You can safely skip a couple of the notorious chapters if needed to preserve sanity. Also, read it out loud. It's a blast!