VI.H.2.
*VI.H.2 [VI.G.3]: "Work in Progress"/Finnegans Wake Page Proofs: Specimen Page Proof "M" of Finnegans Wake I.1 and III.3 (1931):
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is 1 sheet of cream-white laid paper, which is heavier and darker-colored than MSS VI.H.1 and H.3, printed on both sides in black ink, with no corrections or revisions. It contains 2 conjugate leaves, folded vertically in the center, with 3 pages of printed text: p. [135] reads "Specimen M, MacLehose, 660 pages | September 14, 1931", pp. "136" and "137" contain text for Finnegans Wake, and p. [138] is blank.
Measurements
The manuscript measures 24.3 x 30.6 cm. The text blocks measure 17.2 x 9.8 cm.; the text block of the limited first edition measures 17.4 x 10.2 cm.
Pagination
Although the text is not continuous, the two center pages are (notionally) numbered "136" and "137" in the bottom center margin; the other pages are not numbered.
Contents
The manuscript is a later specimen page proof setting for Finnegans Wake, and was set by Faber & Faber’s printers, R. MacLehose and Company Limited, Glasgow: it is labeled "Specimen M". The text was set from unrevised copies of transition 1 (09.21–10.33; April 1927) and transition 15 (214.01–22; February 1929), which were presumably selected at random by the publisher or the printers; see Finnegans Wake 003.19–005.01 and 499.21–500.09. On this manuscript, the text from transition 1 continues through the fourth line on p. "137"; that text ends mid-word, and then the setting continues without any break on the next line with the text from transition 15.
There are 32 lines of text on pp. "136" and "137". According to the printer, if the work were set in this font at this point size, they estimated the book would have comprised 660 pages.
Dating
The manuscript is dated "September 14, 1931" by the printer.
Other Markings
Someone (possibly Joyce) wrote "from Faber and Faber" below the text on p. [135] in lead pencil. The manuscript was folded twice horizontally.
Publication
The printed pages of this manuscript have been reproduced on JJA 61.661–663.
Notes
According to T.S. Eliot, Faber and Faber had the printers set up these two pages in "eleven different types" (Buffalo MS Eliot to Joyce, no. 20; 20 August 1931), only three of which specimen proofs are known to be extant (Buffalo MSS VI.H.1–3). The manuscript was folded in half horizontally.