VI.G.5.
***VI.G.5: "Work in Progress"/Finnegans Wake Galley Proofs: Partial Copy of the First Setting for transition 12/Finnegans Wake III.1 (1928):
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is an octavo sheet of pulp paper. It was printed only on one side and consists of 8 pages of printed text. The pages contain corrections and revisions in Joyce’s hand in black ink. The manuscript was cleaned, de-acidified, and encapsulated in May 1988 and backing tape was placed along the center folds.
Measurements
The manuscript measures 64.4 x 50.0 cm.
Contents
The manuscript is part of one of four copies of the first setting of galley proofs for transition 12 (March 1928); this copy of the manuscript is continued on BL MS 47483, fs. 65r and 66r. Only portions of two partial copies were previously known to be extant and were reproduced in the JJA, but a further partial copy (NLI MS 36,369/15/01/B that is continued on BL MS 47483, fs. 67r and 68r) and two complete copies (NLI MSS 36,369/15/02 and 15/04) are now part of the National Library of Ireland’s "Joyce 2002 Papers." See below for further details.
This copy of the galley proof was not returned to the printer, therefore Joyce’s corrections and revisions here (and on BL MS 47483, fs. 65r and 66r) were transcribed by Thomas MacGreevy on a copy of the second setting of galley proofs for transition 12 (NLI MS 36,369/15/05). See transition 12, 07.01–24.18 as well as FW 403.01–425.13.
JJA Draft Code
The revised code for this manuscript is III.1A.8”’/1D.8”’//2A.8”’ because this was one of the copies that was not returned to the printer. The revised draft code for the first galleys of transition 12 should be as follows:
| Manuscript | Revised JJA Draft Code |
|---|---|
| NLI MS 36,639/15/01/B & BL MS 47483, fs. 67–68 | III.1A.8/1D.8//2A.8 |
| NLI 15/02 (partial) | III.1A.8’/1D.8′//2A.8′ |
| Buffalo MS VI.G.5 & BL MS 47483, fs. 65–66 | III.1A.8”’/1D.8”’//2A.8”’ |
| NLI 15/04 (partial) | III.1A.8”’/1D.8”’//2A.8”’ |
Dating
The manuscript is undated but the set of proofs was date stamped "14 February 1928" by the printer (see NLI MS 36,639/04, p. [1]); Joyce also revised all the copies of this setting of proof in February 1928.
Other Markings
Joyce made three marks, including two deletions, in blue crayon in the top left margins of pp. [7] and [8]. The notation "1 of 6" was written in the lower right corner of the manuscript in lead pencil and the number "5" was written in heavier lead pencil in the top right margin of p. [3] (these markings were probably made during the preservation process as identifying numbers).
Publication
This manuscript not been reproduced, but the remainder of this copy of the setting (BL 47483, fs. 65r and 66r) has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 57.286 and 288. No copy of these first eight pages of the first setting of transition 12 has been reproduced.
Notes
This copy of this set of the first galley proof is now complete.
In their arrangement of the manuscripts for FW Book III, chapters 1–2 in the JJA 57, Danis Rose and John O’Hanlon treat the (probably partial) first setting of the opening of what became III.2 as a first galley proof of transition 13. But, as David Hayman rightly pointed out in his introduction to that same JJA volume (p. xii), the text of transition 13 was entirely reset from the (missing) printers’ copy of the second integral typescript, rather than from the lightly corrected first setting of what had by then become just the opening of III.2. In fact, the two transition issues are both textually and bibliographically distinct: transition 13 (a special "American Number") was set in a larger font size than transition 12 and with 40 lines of text per page rather than 38. Therefore, this catalogue considers the first setting of galley proofs as the textual precedent of transition 12 (III.1) only, but for clarity will continue to refer to the galley proof settings of transition 13 (III.2) by the levels established in the JJA, though in quotation marks (that is, there would be no first setting of galleys for transition 13, just the "second" through "fifth" settings of the galley proofs for that text).