James Joyce. Interpreted by Susan Weil and Marjorie Van Dyke. Vincent FitzGerald and Company. New York. 1987.

Dimensions: 9” x 12” x 1 3/8”.

Bound: 2018.

Green goatskin binding with onlays of various colors of goatskin. Kangaroo and lizard skin, wood veneer, copper, brass and aluminum onlays. Gold, blind and painted tooling. Some areas of sanded or airbrushed leather.

This publication of The Epiphanies offers a masterclass in hands-on bookmaking. The pages are beautifully designed and printed with almost every page spread featuring etching, collage, torn paper compositions or cut-outs. 

The binding features a portrait of Joyce floating above a fragment of a chessboard (which figures prominently in the text), and a torn curtain, behind which spring suggestions of life and brightness, despite the darkness and sorrow that Joyce sometimes describes.