Typeface for first editions of Ulysses?

macinsomniac
4.Jul.2008 9.41pm

Hi,
I don’t know if this is a really easy identification or not, but does anybody know which typeface was used for the early editions of James Joyce’s Ulysses? Shakespeare and Company had it printed by Maurice Darantiere in Dijon, if that bit of information helps.

Ulysses title page

Hunting around I came across this thread, but the later American editions are set in something else.

Thanks,
James

SuperUltraFabulous
4.Jul.2008 10.32pm

Sammy Roman by Matthew Carter can get you close for the titling:

The bottom text looks like a Baskerville.

bowfinpw
5.Jul.2008 4.55pm

There is a titling face shown in Jaspert’s “Enyclopaedia of Type Faces” called Lyons Titling which seems to match this lettering. Unfortunately the alphabet is incomplete, but the book says Elzevir’s upper case is based on this design by Louis Perrin about 1846.

If 1922 is indeed the date of publication of this edition, this typeface would have been available.

- Mike Yanega

macinsomniac
6.Jul.2008 7.03pm

Thanks for the replies guys.

Sammy Roman is close, but the way the strokes taper gives it a little diffenent feel. After a little more digging it looks like the Lyons Titling / Elzevir upper case might be right. That is, I found a webpage that mentioned that Darantiere used Elsevir type.

I also came across a citation for a John Ryder paper entitled “Editing Ulysses Typographically” but I had to ILL it and it hasn’t arrived.

I’ll let you know what I find,
Thanks again,
James