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41 JOYCE, James, & F. J. C. Skeffington. Two Essays. A Forgotten Aspect of the University Question and The Day of the Rabblement. Dublin: Privately printed by Gerrard Bros., October 15, [1901] Joyce’s first obtainable publication First edition, sole impression, of the author’s first obtainable separate publication, a plea for the freedom of the theatre, published when he was 19. Joyce was a student at University College, Dublin in 1901 when he penned The Day of the Rabblement . The essay, and one advocating female equality within the university by Joyce’s schoolmate F. J. C. Skeffington ( A Forgotten Aspect of the University Question ), were both rejected by the University College newspaper, Joyce’s because he mentioned D’Annunzio’s Il Fuoce , which was on the Index librorum prohibitorum , and Skeffington’s for its radical content. The two young men paid to have the essays published as a pamphlet in a small run which they hand- delivered. The exact number of copies printed is unrecorded, but was surely small. The figure was cited as 85 in the 1933 Catalogue of Rare Books by the Ulysses Bookshop and estimated by Skeffington’s son as around 100– 200 copies (Slocum & Cahoon). Few were preserved, as Joyce did not reach any degree of literary fame for many years. As the pamphlet is often found with crease-marks from folding, book collecting lore holds that they are where the pamphlet was hand-folded by Joyce and Skeffington to fit into university letterboxes.
In the essay, Joyce attacks the Irish theatre for catering to popular tastes and promotes free expression. “Joyce was stirred by a group of fellow university students – the ‘rabble’ of the title – signing a letter of protest on political and religious grounds against the Irish Literary Theatre’s first performance of The Countess Cathleen by W. B. Yeats. Joyce critiques the Irish Literary Theatre for its response to the protest which, Joyce claims, saw them bow to public pressure and ‘prejudice’, and become ‘shy of presenting Ibsen, Tolstoy or Hauptmann’. In Joyce’s opinion, the work of these three European writers was profound, innovative and worthy of attention. Significantly, the essay shows Joyce upholding the principle of artistic freedom and condemning censorship in all its forms – an outlook that he would maintain throughout his career. Joyce claims that the artist should never ‘court the favour of the multitude’. The artist’s primary aim is to stay true to his or her vision: ‘Until he has freed himself from the mean influences about him . . . no man is an artist at all’” (British Library, “The Day of the Rabblement”, accessible online). Joyce’s only previously published works were Et Tu, Healy! , a pamphlet printed by his father when he was aged nine, of which no known copies survive, and an article on Ibsen included in the Fortnightly Review , April 1900. Octavo, 8 pp. Original pink wrappers printed in black. Housed in a red cloth solander box. Old bookseller’s description (John Howell of San Francisco) loosely inserted. Central creases as usual, light staining at top margin. An excellent copy. ¶ Slocum & Cahoon B1. £12,500 [153751]
INEXHAUSTIBLE LIFE
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