8vo, first edition in French, translated by Yva Fernandez, Hélène du Pasquier and Jacques-Paul Reynaud, preface by Valery Larbaud, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS BROTHER STANISLAUS ("To | Stannie | Jim | Paris | 27.IV.926") on the initial blank, later green cloth, upper cover of original cream wrappers printed in green and black bound in, some slight browning, a few tiny creases and nicks to edges of some leaves

The author's brother Stanislaus, authorial presentation inscription; thence by descent

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate
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A SUPERB FAMILY PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION OF "DUBLINERS", inscribed during the same stay in Paris in which Joyce inscribed the first German edition of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to Stanislaus's future wife Nelly Lichtensteiger (see next lot). As with other major family presentation copies (e.g. the 1/750 of  Ulysses also inscribed to Stanislaus, sold here, 8 July 2004), Joyce signs himself here the more familiar, plain "Jim", a rare form only usually seen in this context.

This and the following three lots were originally in the library of James Joyce's younger brother Stanislaus (born in Dublin, 17 December 1884, died Trieste, 16 June, "Bloomsday", 1955). Stanislaus arrived in Trieste in late October 1905, and for the next fifteen years acted as a continual source of funds for his brother's family, as well as his protector, property-finder and, at times, literary secretary and curator. At times he despaired of his brother's drinking and his financial recklessness. Ellmann records however, that "nightmarish moments became less frequent as Stanislaus grew more vigilant". When Joyce accused Nora of betrayal with Vincent Cosgrave in 1909 Stanislaus defended her: this, together with John Francis Byrne's reassurance of Joyce in Dublin, could well have saved the marriage. During the Great War Stanislaus, who had stayed on in Trieste when James and Nora left for Zurich, was interned at Katzenau for four years, and had plenty of time to mull over his grievances. These included not only the ingratitude for his financial help, but his brother's unkept promise to dedicate Dubliners to him and the transformation of Stephen Hero into A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, with the relegation of Maurice, Stephen's brother, into obscurity. In July 1920 Joyce and his family left Trieste for Paris, and the brothers were never as close again, although James would still often write to Stanislaus asking him to send on notebooks, drafts and other notes to enable him to complete Ulysses. Perhaps the most succinct summary of the brothers' relationship comes from Ellmann: "It is easy to see that James was a difficult older brother, yet Stanislaus was a difficult younger one. If James was casual and capricious, Stanislaus was punctilious and overbearing...The artist and his reformer made poor house-mates. Stanislaus remembered the many instances that he had been abused in Trieste. Yet he had also been lifted away from ignominy in Dublin and given a career and an intellectual life." Stanislaus’s memoir, My Brother's Keeper, was published posthumously by Faber & Faber in 1958. He had retained a huge archive relating to his brother's life and work, including many of the famous erotic/obscene letters sent between Joyce and Nora in 1909. Most of this was sold by his widow Nelly to Cornell University in 1957, though further letters, manuscripts, books and other items were offered in these rooms on 8^th July 2004.