VIII.A.4.
VIII.A.4: Other Notebooks: Intermediary Zurich Notebook (late 1916)1
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is a pocket-sized exercise notebook with blue paper covers, with an oval white paper label with scalloped edges pasted on the front cover recto. It consists of 16 leaves (32 pages) of grey-lined graph paper; the sheets are stapled twice through the center and folded in half vertically to form the notebook. Joyce wrote on all of the pages in black ink, except for pp. [1r]–[3v] and pp. [16r] and [16v], which are in lead pencil, and [4r], [5v], [7v], [10r], [10v], [11r] and [15v], which are in black ink and lead pencil, but not all of the writing is in Joyce’s hand; none of the pages are blank. The notebook is identical in kind to Buffalo MS V.A.2.a [MS VIII.A.5] and similar, though not identical to MS VIII.A.3, which Joyce also used in Zurich from 1915 to 1918.
Title
Joyce wrote "έλληνικά"("Greek" in modern Greek) in the center of the label on the front cover recto in black ink; the diacritic over "ά" was written in purple crayon. See Spielberg 163; use Greek font.
Measurements
The manuscript measures 17.4 x 10.9 cm.
Pagination
The pages are not numbered.
Contents
The description of the contents here is based on Owen, including his "Collation of Selected Greek Manuscript" on p. [99]; also see pp. 96–104. Pages [1r]–[7v], [10r], [11v], [12v], [13r] and [15r]–[16v] contain miscellaneous Greek vocabulary, usually with English, German and/or French translations, at times not in Joyce’s hand; pp. [7v] and [8r] also contain two poeMS in Greek and the Greek national anthem, respectively, some of which may not be in Joyce’s hand; pp. [8v] and [9r] contain vocabulary notes from MS VIII.A.6.c, which is a letter dated 30 September 1916, and p. [9v] is a direct copy of this "business letter to Pipinellis in Patras about 20 prunes" (Owen, p. [99]), all in Joyce’s hand; p. [11r] is a Greek song of independence in Joyce’s hand copied from MS VIII.A.6.h; p. [12r] is a copy of an as yet unidentified newspaper article on "the first defense Corps on the front"; pp. [11v], [13v] and [14v] are vocabulary notes from MS VIII.A.6.b, which is an unsigned copy of a letter to the president of the National Bank of Greece in Athens, and p. [14r] is a direct copy of the first page of that letter and p. [15r] contains 2 couplets from the Odyssey (II.420–421 and IX.366–367; see Owen, pp. 101–102).
Dating
Owen dates Joyce’s use of the notebook from September to October 1916.
Other Markings
There is stationer’s mark "8 / 50" (possibly the price) in the upper left corner of the label on the front cover recto in lead pencil. There are also some markings (possibly drawings) in Joyce’s hand in lead pencil on the label on the front cover verso.
Publication
This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 3.302–334.
- La Hune, item 72; Slocum & Cahoon, item E.12.d.ii.