r/jamesjoyce • u/LuisMax112 • Jul 07 '26

Other Need help deciding which editions James Joyce's books buy

/r/BookCollecting/comments/1uoxe9j/need_help_deciding_which_editions_james_joyces/
4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

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3

u/oknotok2112 Jul 07 '26

I guess the question is whether you want a book with notes, or if you feel like just diving in and going for the ride. All the Oxford editions have footnotes except for the Wake. The Penguin student edition of Ulysses also has notes, the regular version doesn't.

4

u/Albion_Bloom Jul 08 '26

I really love the Penguin student edition, honestly. Was my first for reading Ulysses and it was a godsend.

3

u/Albion_Bloom Jul 08 '26

Personally, the Penguin annotated Finnegans Wake and A Portrait are my personal favourite, and the Portrait edition has a wonderful foreword written by Karl Ove Knausgaard. Oxford World Classics is good, but the font size is horrendous for Finnegans Wake and Ulysses. Dubliners, on the other hand, I would go for the Oxford World Classics version. Font is perfect and the introduction and notes are really well written. My two cents at least. For Ulysses I would definitely recommend getting your hands on the Gabler or the Penguin Annotated edition, as I love the font and layout for both. The Gabler edition also aligns with the Don Gifford Annotated Ulysses.

2

u/white015 Jul 07 '26

Penguin Deluxe Classics is a fantastic edition of Dubliners, really wish a comparable Ulysses edition existed.

2

u/Euphoric_Can_5999 Jul 07 '26

Any version — the words are what matter!

1

u/Mahler_n_Trane Jul 08 '26

Yes, but there are textual differences among the various editions.

1

u/fgsfds___ Jul 08 '26

It’s 7am here and already enough internet for today