James Joyce: A Life in Books. The Desmond J. Green Collection. Dublin: Martello Publishing, 2026. First Edition, Limited Issue. Pp 294. Green cloth boards, upper cover & spine lettered in gilt. In publisher’s matching dust jacket.

Limited Edition of One Hundred & Twenty-Five Signed Copies

The Desmond J. Green collection of James Joyce’s books, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, first editions, letters, and ephemera is one of the finest and most representative collections of Joyce material in private hands. The fact that they were gathered by an Irishman in Ireland makes the collection all the more significant.

Filled with unique and spectacular jewels, the range of material it contains is comprehensive. There are virtually complete holdings of all Joyce’s works: Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Exiles, Ulysses, Pomes Penyeach, ‘Work in Progress’, and Finnegans Wake. There are also copies of all the foundational early works, such as ‘The Day of the Rabblement’, ‘The Holy Office’, and ‘Gas from a Burner’, which are increasingly difficult to obtain. These books, pamphlets, and broadsides are supplemented by some of Joyce’s manuscripts, letters, and other publications, as well as contextual material that prompts new insights into Joyce’s works.

The book traces how Joyce’s works are connected to one another, and how the modernist literary landscape was altered by their publications. Bridging book history, bibliography, and biography, this is a must-have for all Joyce enthusiasts.

This lavishly designed fine arts book is beautifully produced and bound, with over 150 specially commissioned photographs of the items by Gillian Buckley. Edited with text by Luca Crispi, Associate Professor in James Joyce Studies in the UCD School of English, Drama and Film, the book is designed and produced by Anne Brady of the award-winning Vermillion Design.