Bloomsday

Continuing the theme of last year’s Bloomsday post...  I’m always on the lookout for interesting and unusual cover designs for Ulysses, and I very much like Kirsty White’s cover for Penguin’s 2011 Annotated Student edition. Pictorial views of Dublin in the early 20th century are de rigueur for art directors tasked with presenting Joyce’s masterwork but it’s nice to see an artist given the opportunity to present original work. I haven't seen a cover this striking since Richard Hamilton’s 1985 etching The Transmogrifications of Bloom, used on various editions of the Oxford World Classics series, and I particularly like that the artist has included little references to the book within the drawing - thoughtfully color-coded for the reader to puzzle over. And the framing device of the drawing, a faux supplement of the Freeman's Journal newspaper (where Leopold Bloom sells advertising space), is rather ingenious too, in fact I initially assumed the design was adapted from an actual illustration from that paper. (Click here for a large scan of the cover)

Bloomsday

My annual Bloomsday post... Given the day that's in it, I took a wander over to eBay to check for those rare expensive editions of Ulysses that impoverished book junkies like me can only dream of owning, and I spotted this very nice 1967 Bodley Head edition which ties-in with Joseph Strick's film - the dust jacket riffing on the novel's more salacious content with an on-set photograph of Joe Lynch as Blazes Boylan and Barbara Jefford as Molly, presumably post-coitus. This would be a fine copy to own, Ulysses covers tend to either feature just the name of the book or unimaginative views of Dublin. Alternatively, if you've deep pockets you could also pick up the Unauthorized First American Edition from 1929, which will set you back a cool $1,999.95...