Illustrated book

Arion Press, San Francisco

13 5/8 x 10 7/8 in. (34.6 x 27.6 cm)

40 original etchings composed of 22 line etchings and 18 etched roman numerals handwritten by the artist; line etchings are 9 1/4 x 12 5/8 in. (23.5 x 32.1 cm) each; the roman numerals are 4 1/4 x 6 in. (10.8 x 15.2 cm) each. Printed on Johannot paper in two weights: 240 grams for the etchings and 100 grams for the text pages. Each of the 18 episodes is preceded by a page that includes a roman numeral printed in black with the episode caption printed in Perpetua typeface. The frontspiece is a portrait of James Joyce; the tailpiece illustrated the conclusion to Molly Bloom's soliloquy; 4 1/4 x 6 in. (10.8 x 15.2 cm) each, printed in black with a rolled gray background color. Two images, one facing the title page and one facing the limitation page, are 6 x 6 in. (15.2 x 15.2 cm), printed in black.

The 40 etchings are joined as 20 pairs, tipped together at the fore-edge and gutter, with hinges pasted and sewn into sections. The book was bound by hand at Arion Press. The sections are sewn with linen thread over linen tapes with linen headbands. The volume is rounded and backed with white, alum-tawed pigskin on the spine and over the fore-edge of the boards, which are covered in blue cloth with white flecks. The book is presented in a slipcase covered with the same fabric and lined with white paper. Titling on the spine is printed in blue: "ULYSSES"; titled on the slipcase is a label printed in blue pasted to the spine: "ULYSSES/by JAMES JOYCE, with etchings by/ROBERT MOTHERWELL, 1988/San Francisco, THE ARION PRESS."

Perpetua for the text, with 18-point roman machine-set and italic hand-set; and Gil Sans for the titling on the spine, designed by Eric Fill. Printed by letterpress at Arion Press on a Miller cylinder in black ink.

Signed "R. Motherwell" in pencil on the limitation page

Numbered in pencil by the publisher on the limitation page

150

25 HC
10 printer's copies without illustrations

Plate preparation and proofing by Catherine Mosley, artist's studio, Greenwich, Connecticut; color proofing and intaglio printing by Katherine Hanlon and Robert Townsend, R.E. Townsend, Inc., Georgetown, Massachusetts

Designed and produced by Andrew Hoyem at Arion Press, San Francisco, assisted by G.B. Carson, Matthew Kelsey, Gerald Reddan, Glenn Todd, Lawrence Van Velzer, and Marilyn Young. Keyboard typesetting by Michael Bixler's Monotype service, Skaneateles, New York. Casting by Lewis Mitchell at Mackenzie-Harris Corp., San Francisco

5 blank pages
1 page with half-title text: ULYSSES
1 page with signature, number, and text
1 double-fold page with etching (James Joyce) recto, etching (Telemachia-Odyssey-Nostos) verso
1 page with title text: "James Joyce/Ulysses/Etchings by Robert Motherwell/Arion Press: San Francisco 1988" recto, copyright verso
1 page of text: "Part One"
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode I) recto, etching (The Tower) verso
23 pages of text numbered 9-31
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode II) recto, etching (History) verso
14 pages of text numbered 33-46
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode III) recto, etching (Philology) verso
16 pages of text numbered 47-62
1 page of text: "Part Two"
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode IV) recto, etching (Nymph) verso
18 pages of text numbered 65-82
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode V) recto, etching (Communicants) verso
18 pages of text numbered 83-100
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode VI) recto, etching (Hades) verso
32 pages of text numbered 101-132
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode VII) recto, etching (Lungs) verso
36 pages of text numbered 133-168
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode VIII) recto, etching (Architecture) verso
37 pages of text numbered 169-205
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode IX) recto, etching (Scylla and Charybdis) verso
38 pages of text numbered 207-244
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode X) recto, etching (The Streets) verso
40 pages of text numbered 245-284
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XI) recto, etching (Music) verso
39 pages of text numbered 285-323
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XI) recto, etching (Music) verso
39 pages of text numbered 285-323
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XI) recto, etching (Music) verso
39 pages of text numbered 285-323
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XII) recto, etching (Cyclops) verso
58 pages of text numbered 325-382
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XIII) recto, etching (Star of the Sea) verso
40 pages of text numbered 383-422
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XIV) recto, etching (The Hospital) verso
48 pages of text numbered 423-470
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XV) recto, etching (Midnight) verso
173 pages of text numbered 471-643
1 Page of text: "Part Three"
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XVI) recto, etching (Skin the Goat) verso
58 pages of text numbered 647-704
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XVII) recto, etching (Skeleton) verso
81 pages of text numbered 705-785
1 double-fold page with etching (Episode XVIII) recto, etching (The Bed) verso
49 pages of text numbered 787-835
1 double-fold page with etching (Penelope) recto, etching (Trieste-Zurich-Paris) verso
1 limitation page
5 blank pages

B 384-405

The Ulysses etchings have their beginning in the Dedalus Sketchbook of 1982 (see the Chronology, p. 51), which initiated a large body of drawings executed ocer the next several years. From this plenitude, Motherwell selected an image to introduce each of the eighteen episodes of the book. Emphasizing effect over description, the speculative linearity of each composition is suspended in a dense monochrome background tone achieved by charging the plate with ink twice. Almost casual in their simplicity, the etchings contrast with the highly wrought texture and unprecedented idiosyncrasy of the novel. The first edition of Ulysses was published by Sylvia Beach in February 1922 under the imprint of her bookshop Shakespeare & Company, Paris, in 1,000 numbered copies. Beach selected the printer Maurice Darantière, who labored to satisfy Joyce's exacting instructions about paper, binding, and typeface. He traveled to Germany and Holland to find the penultimate blue paper of Joyce's specifications for the cover, sending samples to the author for approval. The binding and housing chosen for the Arion Press book and portfolio editions of Ulysses reflect Joyce's original desire to use the cobalt blue of the Greek flag on teh book's cover, because Joyce felt that white lettering on blue would resemble an archipelago: white islands on a blue expanse of water. See the Arion Press 1988 prospectus The Ulysses Etchings of Robert Motherwell for a detailed overview of the project.