Ulysses . with an introduction by Stuart Gilbert and illustrations by Henri Matisse. This item is unavailable.Ulysses . with an introduction by Stuart Gilbert and illustrations by Henri Matisse

Edition limited to 1500 copies signed by Matisse (this being copy 1408), and the first illustrated edition of Joyce's monumental novel. 4to, pp. [iii]-xv, [3], 363, [3]; 26 plates (6 soft-ground etchings, printed by hand, and 20 lithographic drawings made as studies for the etchings), printed on thin colored papers; original brown buckram with a gold embossed design on the front cover and repeated on the spine; a fine copy in the original publisher's box lettered and decorated in brown on spine; box shows some light soiling and staining, and which also shows very small cracks at the lower extremities. Small bookplate on front free endpaper. One of the most important illustrated books of the 20th century. "The text of this edition is based on that of the Odyssey Press edition, second impression, and is therefore the most accurate text of Ulysses that has been published in the United States" (Slocum & Cahoon). As the story goes, Joyce signed 250 copies but ceased in a huff when he learned that Matisse had made the illustrations based on Homer's Odyssey, not his own Ulysses which was only based on Homer. Slocum & Cahoon, A22; LEC Bibliography 71.…