My Brother's Keeper. James Joyce's Early Years
New York: Viking Press, 1958. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher’s slate cloth over light blue paper-covered boards, spine gilt, upper board blind stamped, original printed dust jacket.
"Some inner purpose transfigured him." First edition of Stanislaus Joyce’s memoir of his older brother James. A diarist, scholar, and teacher, Stanislaus was his brother’s first reader and critic (in Joyce’s words, his "whetstone"), a source for material, and his biggest supporter. Left unfinished and published posthumously, this memoir recounts the brothers' childhood, James's friends and contemporaries, and young life in Dublin and Trieste. Edited by American literary critic and National Book Award-winning Joyce biographer Richard Ellmann, with a preface by fellow modernist T.S. Eliot; with index. Bookseller's ticket to front endpaper. Light toning to board edges, corners gently bumped; unclipped dust jacket somewhat heavily worn, with chips, closed tears, and some soiling. Good. Item #6578
$35.00