Ulysses First Edition — Identification, Points & Collecting Guide

The Most Important Novel of the 20th Century

James Joyce’s Ulysses, published by Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company in Paris on February 2, 1922 (Joyce’s 40th birthday), is by nearly universal critical consensus the most important novel of the 20th century. It is also one of the most complex bibliographic challenges in modern book collecting — published in three distinct binding states at different price points, from a small Parisian bookshop rather than a major publisher, printed on handmade paper by a French printer who spoke no English, and immediately suppressed in both the United States and the United Kingdom as obscene.

The collecting market for Ulysses reflects its supreme literary position: the signed limited copies on Dutch handmade paper represent one of the most expensive categories of 20th-century book collecting, while even the standard copies in blue wrappers command prices that place them among the most valuable modernist objects in existence.

First Edition Identification

Shakespeare and Company, Paris, February 2, 1922

The first edition was published in three binding states (really three price tiers), printed simultaneously by Maurice Darantiere in Dijon:

State 1: Signed, on Dutch Handmade Paper (100 copies)

• Paper: Van Gelder handmade paper (watermarked)
• Binding: Blue paper-covered boards with white parchment spine
• Numbering: Numbered 1–100, signed by Joyce
• Price (original): 350 francs
• Current value: $200,000–$500,000+

State 2: On Vergé d’Arches Paper (150 copies)

• Paper: Vergé d’Arches laid paper (superior quality)
• Binding: Blue paper-covered boards with white parchment spine (same style as State 1)
• Numbering: Numbered 101–250
• NOT signed
• Price (original): 250 francs
• Current value: $100,000–$250,000

State 3: On Standard Paper (750 copies)

• Paper: Ordinary French printing paper
• Binding: Blue paper wrappers (not boards — these are flexible covers)
• Numbering: Numbered 251–1000
• NOT signed
• Price (original): 150 francs
• Current value: $50,000–$150,000

Total Print Run: 1,000 Copies

All three states together constitute the first edition — 1,000 copies total. This is the entire first printing of what is now regarded as the greatest novel in English since Middlemarch.

The Obscenity History

Why Shakespeare and Company?

No English or American publisher would touch Ulysses:

1920: Portions serialized in The Little Review (New York) — publication halted by obscenity prosecution (the “Nausicaa” episode)

1921: No English-language publisher would accept the book. Harriet Shaw Weaver’s Egoist Press (London) could not find a British printer willing to set the type.

1922: Sylvia Beach — an American bookseller in Paris — offered to publish it from her bookshop, Shakespeare and Company (12 rue de l’Odéon). Maurice Darantiere’s printing house in Dijon produced it.

1922–1933: The book was banned in the US and UK. Copies entering the US were confiscated and burned by US Customs.

1933: Judge John M. Woolsey ruled Ulysses was not obscene (United States v. One Book Called Ulysses). Random House published the first legal US edition in 1934.

1936: The first British edition (Bodley Head, London) appeared.

Signed Copies

Only State 1 (100 Copies)

Only the 100 copies on Dutch handmade paper bear Joyce’s signature — inscribed on the limitation page. These are:

• Numbered 1 through 100
• Signed “James Joyce” in Joyce’s distinctive hand
• The ONLY signed copies of the first edition (Joyce did not sign States 2 or 3)
• Perhaps 70–90 survive (some were lost, damaged, or entered institutions permanently)

Value: A signed copy in good condition: $200,000–$500,000+. Exceptional copies have sold for over $400,000 at auction.

The Joyce signature: Joyce’s handwriting is distinctive — spidery, somewhat unsteady (his eyesight was extremely poor throughout the 1920s). Authentication of the signature is straightforward for experts due to its consistent characteristics.

Condition Challenges

The Format’s Inherent Fragility

Ulysses first editions present severe condition challenges:

State 1 and 2 (boards):

• The blue paper covering the boards rubs and chips easily
• The white parchment spine yellows and stains
• The handmade paper is durable but bulky — causing stress on the binding
• The 732 pages create a thick, heavy volume that strains the binding

State 3 (wrappers):

• Blue paper wrappers are extremely fragile
• The spine cracks with reading (the book is 732 pages in a paper binding)
• Edges of wrappers chip, tear, and discolor
• Many copies were rebound (removing them from “first edition in wrappers” category to “first edition, rebound”)

Overall: Finding any state in truly Fine condition is difficult. The format was not designed for permanence — it was a small-press production from a bookshop, not a major publisher’s product.

The Subsequent Editions

After the First 1,000

The Matisse edition: The 1935 Limited Editions Club Ulysses with illustrations by Henri Matisse is a separate significant collectible — combining Joyce and Matisse in a fine press production.

Collecting Strategies

Strategy 1: State 3 (Blue Wrappers) (~$50,000–$150,000)

The most accessible of the three states:

• Standard paper; blue wrappers
• The “working” copy that most collectors can aspire to
• Condition range is wide — from rebound ($20,000–$40,000) to original wrappers ($50,000–$150,000)

Strategy 2: State 2 (Vergé d’Arches) (~$100,000–$250,000)

The middle state:

• Superior paper; boards (not wrappers)
• More durable format than State 3
• Numbered but unsigned
• Fewer copies than State 3 (150 vs 750) — proportionally scarcer

Strategy 3: State 1 (Signed, Dutch Paper) (~$200,000–$500,000+)

The ultimate:

• Signed by Joyce
• Best paper
• Boards (durable)
• Only 100 copies
• The supreme modernist collecting achievement

Strategy 4: The 1922 Modernist Library (~$100,000–$600,000)

Ulysses within the annus mirabilis of modernism (1922):

• Joyce: Ulysses (1922)
• Eliot: The Waste Land (1922) — $20,000–$60,000
• Woolf: Jacob’s Room (1922) — $5,000–$15,000
• Mansfield: The Garden Party (1922) — $1,000–$3,000
• Lawrence: Aaron’s Rod (1922) — $1,000–$3,000
• Proust: Sodome et Gomorrhe (1922) — $1,000–$3,000

Buying Advice

Authentication

At these price levels, expert authentication is mandatory:

• Paper verification: States 1 and 2 must show correct watermarks
• Numbering: Verify number is in the correct range for the state
• Signature (State 1): Compare with authenticated Joyce specimens
• Binding: Confirm original blue paper boards/wrappers (not rebound and re-covered)
• Completeness: All 732 pages present; verify no leaves supplied from other copies
• Expert opinion: Major auction houses and specialist dealers authenticate routinely

What to Expect

• Perfect copies essentially don’t exist: Accept that some wear is inevitable for a 100-year-old book in fragile binding
• Rebound copies: Some first-edition copies were rebound in the 20th century. These are still first editions of the text but lack the original wrapper/board presentation. Value: 40–60% of copies in original binding.
• The 2nd Shakespeare and Company printing (also 1922): 2,000 copies printed later in 1922. Identified by “Published in Paris by Shakespeare and Company” on title page but with printing notice. Much more affordable.
• Forgeries/facsimiles: At these values, the risk of sophisticated forgery exists. Buy only from reputable sources with guarantee of authenticity.