VI.C.2.
VI.C.2: "Work in Progress"/Finnegans Wake Scribal Notebook (1933)
Material Description
The manuscript has floral-designed dark blue covers over boards, with a black tape spine, which is worn but intact, and the edges of all the leaves are speckled blue-and-white. There are blue-and-white marbled design papers pasted to the front cover verso and back cover recto; the front flyleaf verso and back flyleaf recto are plain white, unlined paper. The notes are in the hand of Mme Raphael in black ink. Joyce used blue, green, and red colored crayons to cross through the notes he had used in his manuscripts.
Collation
The manuscript consists of 140 leaves (280 pages) of blue horizontally ruled paper, 12 stitched gatherings (the 1st and 12th gatherings are composed of 20 pages and the 2nd through 11th gatherings are composed of 24 pages); none of the pages are detached. All of the pages as well as the back flyleaf recto are inscribed; only the front flyleaf verso is blank.
Measurements
The manuscript measures 18.8 x 14.5 cm.
Contents
The notebook contains transcriptions of Joyce’s notes in the following primary notebooks:
| Scribal Notebook | Primary Notebooks | JJA |
|---|---|---|
| MS VI.C.2, pp. [001]–[005] | MS VI.B.34, pp. [172]–[185] | 41.077–078 |
| MS VI.C.2, pp. [006]–[122] | MS VI.B.2, front cover verso–back cover verso | 41.078–107 |
| MS VI.C.2, pp. [123]–[197] | [MS VI.D.1; missing notebook(s)] | 41.107–126 |
| MS VI.C.2, pp. [198]–[280] | MS VI.B.6, pp. [001]–[136] | 41.126–146 |
Pagination
The pages are not numbered. The numbers "10" and "20" were written on pp. [010] and [020], respectively, in blue crayon; the numbers "30", "40", "60", "80", "130", and "140" were written in the top left corners of pp. [030], [040], [060], [080], [130], and [140], respectively, in light lead pencil.
Dating
Mme Raphael prepared the transcriptions in this notebook in late 1933 in Paris (TD 32) and Joyce used the notebook in 1934.
Other Markings
The notebook was marked "2" in blue crayon on the back flyleaf recto, probably by Joyce. There is a stamped purple stationer’s mark on the front flyleaf verso that reads: "38".
Publication
The manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile in JJA 41.076–147. MS VI.B.6 was published in The Finnegans Wake Notebooks at Buffalo: VI.B.6, edited by Vincent Deane, Daniel Ferrer and Geert Lernout (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2001)
Notes
There is a printed stationer’s label on the front cover verso that reads: "Papeterie Imprimerie | – RELIURE – | A. Roques | & Fils | 1 & 3, Rue de Condé | 4, Rue de l’Odéon | PARIS (VIe) | DANTON 02-50".