The Library of Stephen J. Farber

4to. 6 etchings and 20 reproductions of preliminary drawings on colored paper. Original brown cloth with upper cover and spine gilt-decorated, printed label on spine; glassine dust jacket (some chipping along extremities with 4 in. to front panel with loss); publisher's printed slipcase (light soiling and rubbing to extremes).

LIMITED EDITION, number 511 of 1,500 copies, SIGNED BY MATISSE. Considered one of the most important works by Irish author James Joyce, Ulysses was first published in Paris by Shakespeare & Co. in 1922 and, from there, spent over a decade fending off legal challenges for perceived obscenity before finally seeing publication in the United States in 1934. The following year, George Macy, founder and publisher of the Limited Editions Club, paid French artist Henri Matisse $5,000 to create the illustrations for Macy's edition. Matisse famously created illustrations based on Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, claiming that he had not read Joyce's book. Though it is reported that Joyce was so angry at this perceived snub that he refused to sign more than 250 copies, the contract Joyce initially signed with Macy allowed only 250 copies to be signed by both him and Matisse, owing to Joyce's failing eyesight. The American Livre de Peintre, 32; The Artist and the Book, 197; Slocum and Calhoun, A22.