Joyce's baker's dozen
JOYCE, James. Pomes Penyeach. Paris: Shakespeare and Company. 1927.
12mo (122 × 95 mm). Brown paper-covered boards lettered in black to covers; pp. [20]; covers a little browned and marked, cracked along the backstrip, with some chipping, upper board now expertly reattached; pages a little toned, else fine internally.
First trade edition, with the errata slip to rear.
A collection of 13 short poems, originally priced one shilling (12 pence), or twelve Francs in France. This edition was originally published in a very limited run of 13 copies.
The 13 poems here are offered at "a penny each". It was the custom for Irish tradespeople of the time to offer their customers a "tilly" (in Irish, tuilleadh) or extra serving – just as English bakers had developed the tradition of the "baker's dozen", offering thirteen loaves instead of twelve. The first poem of Pomes Penyeach is entitled "Tilly" and represents the bonus offering of this penny-a-poem collection. The poem was originally entitled "Cabra", after the Cabra district of Dublin where Joyce was living at the time of his mother's death.
Written by Joyce between 1904 and 1924, this collection includes some of the author's most popular poems, such as "A Flower Given to My Daughter" and "On the Beach at Fontana", with each poem accompanied by its place and year of composition.
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