Two Tales of Shem and Shaun

London: Faber and Faber, 1932 . First edition. Hardback. Near Fine/Very Good. 8" by 5". None. The first trade edition of these two short tales from James Joyce, works that would eventually appear in Joyce's 1939 novel, 'Finnegans Wake'. The first trade edition of this work, first impression. This was also the first UK edition of this work, following a limited run of numbered privately printed copies produced in Paris in 1929. In the publisher's original price unclipped dust wrapper.Containing two short stories from the Irish modernist, 'The Ondt and the Gracehoper' and 'The Mookse and the Gripes', unfinished works that would eventually become incorporated into 'Finnegans Wake', a work that was gradually written over the course of seventeen years, and is here referred to only as a 'work in progress'.Initial reaction to Finnegans Wake, following its final publication as a complete work in 1939 was largely negative, ranging from bafflement at its radical reworking of the English language to open hostility towards its lack of respect for the conventions of the genre.With a former owner's inscription, dated 1942, to the front free endpaper. In the publisher's original paper covered boards, with price unclipped dust wrapper. Minor bump to spine head, with small area of discolouration to head of front board. Inscription to front free endpaper. Dust wrapper back strip a touch age toned, with small loss to back strip head, and significant closed tear to head of front wrap. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright. Near Fine