Other Fiction Joyce, James: Ulysses [Variorum Edition] | v.2.0 | Update 10 Apr 2016

[pynch]

This edition collects five versions of Ulysses by James Joyce:

— — —


THE FIRST:
Shakespeare & Co., Paris 1922.
[source: the facsimile of the 2002 Dover edition]

THE BEST:
The Odyssey Press, Hamburg, Paris, Bologna 1939 (4th impression)
revised by Stuart Gilbert

THE COMMON:
Random House, New York 1961
corrected and reset
[source: the 1961 Vintage Books paperback reprint]

THE NOTORIOUS:
Garland Publishing, Inc., New York & London 1984
A Critical and Synoptic Edition, prepared by Hans Walter Gabler with Wolfhard Steppe and Claus Melchior

THE LAST:
Robotwisdom.com, 2000
by Jorn Barger

— — —

There has never been a reliable text of Ulysses. The first edition had a lot of mistakes, caused by a French printer without a full command of the English language and overlooked by an author who preferred adding material in the proof sheets. The editions that followed tried to correct these mistakes but introduced others, or just invented their own text [almost kidding!].

The available paper copies of Ulysses usually mention which text they use; the myriad of digital editions, on the other hand, rarely specify on which text they are based (The only ‘official’ version, based on the Random House text, which was issued by the Modern Library and is now withdrawn from circulation, is full of scanning mistakes!)—an unbearable situation which comes to an end now, I hope.

As this edition compiles most of the relevant editions of Ulysses, you can choose which one you want to read, or easily compare the different versions.

I have fully proofed the first four texts against the respective print copies, trying to recreate the source texts accurately, which of course means that all original mistakes are preserved. The fifth was an original digital edition (in which I have restored the original mistakes I had ‘corrected’ for v.2.0 and v.2.1 of the Complete Works). The formatting follows each of the print editions as closely as possible.

When the Shakespeare & Co. edition was reprinted in 1922 by the Egoist Press, London, it came with a 7-page list of errata. These are indicated as footnotes in the first edition text.

Each text contains the page numbers of the first edition with links to the respective pages of the other four versions, allowing to compare the texts. I understand that these can be considered intrusive, so you will find instructions in the style.css stylesheet to hide all or some of them.

A big thanks to the (non-quaker) librarian who helped me to find the ultra-rare 4th impression of the Odyssey Press edition that was deeply hidden in the catalogue.

This one’s for John Kidd, I guess, whose version still has to see the light of day.

I consider this edition to be finished, so please inform me should you find any deviations from the source texts.

Regards,
pynch.

Update | v.2.0 | 10 Apr 2016
I have added the 13 1/3 chapters of Ulysses which were published in The Little Review between March 1918 and December 1920.

Previous Downloads: 438

This work is assumed to be in the Life+70 public domain OR the copyright holder has given specific permission for distribution. Copyright laws differ throughout the world, and it may still be under copyright in some countries. Before downloading, please check your country's copyright laws. If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this work.

To report a copyright violation you can contact us here.

[Spinnenmonat]

It's work of art and art of work, in short, a masterpiece!

[Iñigo]

Thanks!

[anacreon]

Very, very impressive!
As a rule I don't choose original versions (Proust is an other instance of a terrible text - not to speak of all his later additions). My paper version was Faber & Faber, probably 60's but I don't have it at hand to check. Which of yours would you say is closest to Joyce's intentions? Since I prefer fluid reading, I'll go to your stylesheet and hide all.
Many thanks again.

[pynch]

Thanks, anacreon.

I recommend the Odyssey Press edition. It was edited by Stuart Gilbert—a friend of Joyce whom he could and did ask about the tricky bits—, so many of the corrections can be considered authorial. (But of course closest doesn’t necessarily mean close; Joyce’s focus was on other things at that time.)

[anacreon]

I just noticed, the cover is animated! I didn't know it was possible. And I've started the Odyssey edition, only at the point I was at in the complete works. So many books, so little time.

[pynch]

The cover is animated, really? I haven’t noticed that. Must be magic.

[anacreon]

I use the kobo aura h2o with 3.11 FW, and the full book cover as a sleep cover. Perhaps it is an effect of the new FW which allows a little time before the light turns off as the reader goes to sleep, but it looks like the 5 "U"s with progressively darker / lighter shades of grey move, to the left when turning off, to the right when turning on. I haven't upgraded the aura 6", which I synchronise only when preparing for a trip, as a spare, so I don't know whether it would look the same.

[doubleshuffle]

The animation is an optical illusion, but a very impressive one. It has nothing to do with either the FW or the sleepcover - on the contrary, when you put the reader to sleep with the cover instead of the slider you miss the going-to-sleep animation, which is even cooler than the waking-up effect. I've just put to sleep and woken up again my HD about two dozen times, and now I have to finish, because I have to get back to it again.

(The book itself isn't bad either...)

[Jellby]

For animated covers I suggest using these: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html (not sure how well they work in grayscale, though)

[Nabeel]

Thank you for uploading this. I still count Joyce's Ulysses as the greatest work of literature ever.

Way back in 1982 I spent Bloomsday in a barely furnished flat with a bottle or two of Guinness, reading Ulysses in 'real time'. If you're prepared to speed-read it a bit, and you don't drink too much, it can be done.

N.

[pynch]

I have added the 13 1/3 chapters of Ulysses which were published in The Little Review between March 1918 and December 1920, when a prosecution for “obscenity” brought the publication to a halt.

[rurdyrucker]

I needed a manageable MOBI of Ulysses to read on my Kindle, so I took pynch's wonderful EPUB and converted it to MOBI (with the left-align text that I prefer) and edited out all but the two main competing editions, the 1961 Random House and the 1984 Gabler. Here it is.

This work is assumed to be in the Life+70 public domain OR the copyright holder has given specific permission for distribution. Copyright laws differ throughout the world, and it may still be under copyright in some countries. Before downloading, please check your country's copyright laws. If the book is under copyright in your country, do not download or redistribute this work.

To report a copyright violation you can contact us here.

[rurdyrucker]

Thanks, Pynch, for your wonderful work. All over the web people complain that they can't find a good ebook of Ulysses. And here it is for free, thanks to you.
For awhile I thought I should Calibre your EPUB over to a MOBI for use on a Kindle reader, but the process didn't work quite right for me...and then, duh, I realized I should just read Pynch's EPUB! I got Icecream reader which seems to be working quite well.
Loving Ulysses once again, it's been years.
Thanks again, Pynch, you rule.

[pynch]

You’re very welcome.