James Joyce's "Finn's Hotel" is Published by Ithys Press, Dublin, After 20 years' Suppression

DUBLIN, IRELAND, June 17, 2013

Ithys Press announces the first publication of 'Finn's Hotel', an abandoned and lost title written by James Joyce in 1923. Its existence and significance were discovered some decades ago but its publication was thwarted for twenty years. Joyce's literary canon is now complete.

'Finn's Hotel' is a serio-comic collection of ten 'epiclets', as Joyce called them. These ten 'little epics' (including a few discovered only in 2004) represent Joyce's creative output after finishing 'Ulysses' and before beginning 'Finnegans Wake'. 'Finn's Hotel' was originally conceived as a series of fables: concise, concentrated pieces of prose fiction centering on epoch-making Irish historic and mythic moments, spanning about 1,500 years. Joyce set all but one of these epiclets aside for sixteen years, until, when struggling to finish 'Finnegans Wake', he returned to some of them for inspiration. The piece he did not leave aside—about the larger than life character HC Earwicker—became the seminal idea for 'Finnegans Wake'. Many of Joyce's heros and heroines, who were previously known to us only in their later, complex reincarnations, made their unvarnished debut in 'Finn's Hotel'.

Like his other abandoned and posthumously published works 'Stephen Hero' and 'Giacomo Joyce' (each a stepping-stone for his next work), 'Finn's Hotel' is a work in itself, in addition to being a documentary snapshot of Joyce's ever-expanding creative process and a key to major themes of the notoriously difficult 'Finnegans Wake'.

Published by Ithys Press of Dublin in June 2013, this first edition of  FINN'S HOTEL by James Joyce is edited and arranged by Danis Rose, introduced by Seamus Deane, with 11 illustrations by Casey Sorrow, and is designed & printed letterpress by Michael Caine in a range of rare early 20th Century typefaces. The edition is limited to 180 copies  comprising 10 copies in artist's bindings designed by Antonio Velez Celemín, 26 lettered copies in loose double-elephant quartos and boxed, and 140 numbered copies hardbound in handprinted paper. The edition is handbound by Tom Duffy.

James Joyce, 'Finn's Hotel' (Ithys Press: 2013), [104pp; Deluxe & Lettered 36 x 26cm, Numbered 35 x 25cm], Deluxe: 2500EUR / Lettered: 1250EUR / Numbered 350EUR.
ISBN 978-0-9570684-2-1.

Ithys Press (an imprint of Ithys Press Ltd., Dublin) is an international finepress publisher of livres d'artistes, literature, and philosophy.

For Details, Orders & Enquiries visit the Website or Contact the Publisher at:
IthysPress.com / Contact@IthysPress.com
Press Enquiries may be directed to Anastasia Herbert at: contact@ithyspress.com

Ithys Press is a fine-press publisher of literature and philosophy, based in Dublin, with international distribution.