Ulysses. Vom Verfasser geprufte deutsche ausgabe von Georg Goyert. [Basel]: Privatdruck, 1927. Three volumes. First German Edition. One of 1000 Sets Published. Printed on laid paper. Bound in brown quarter leather, gilt-stamped label and volume number to spines, decorative paper-covered boards (mottled green, grey, and brown on cream stock), top edges in gilt. A near fine set.

A German edition of Ulysses was originally planned by Deutsche Verlag in 1924, but failed to appear. The project was then taken over by Joyce’s German publisher Rhein-Verlag, who held a competition to find a translator for Ulysses. The competition was won by Georg Goyert and in August 1926 he met with Joyce in Ostend to revise the text. The publication was successful, and on 19 November Joyce sent a postcard to Claud W. Sykes stating that ‘The edition was sold out in 3 weeks’ (J. Joyce op. cit. III, p.167). The limited edition of 1,000 copies for sale was issued in a half morocco binding (as here) and in green wrappers; as Slocum and Cahoon note, ‘The emphasis on the private nature of the publication and the strict limitation of copies was caused by some fear … that Ulysses might be subject to censorship’. This was the first time Ulysses was translated into another language. A French edition followed in 1929. [Slocum and Cahoon (45. 2)]