transition

Issue #8, November 1927

edited by Eugene Jolas and Elliot Paul

Issue No. 8. Paris: transition, 1927

Softback is overall in VERY GOOD condition.

Tan wraps have gray ink title and red text.
Wraps show some exposure, staining to back, creasing at corners, bumping, edgewear. Corners are bumped, softened. See photos.
Spine has gray and red text dimmed and is darkened, with chipped ends. See photos.
Binding is secure; covers show some signs of separation at ends. See photos.
Illustrations are bright and clear, plates are tipped-in, with some offset toning. See photos.
Publisher's advertisements follow the editorial content.
Interior is uniformly age-toned, exhibits marginal toning, light edgewear, a couple creased corners.
Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
Text block edges are untrimmed.
PS2026.0624

184 pages. 5.5 x 7.5 inches

Issue Number 8 of transition, a landmark avant-garde modernist literary magazine launched in Paris in April, 1927. Publisher's tan paper wraps printed in red and gray ink are toned with age and exposure, a little softened at the opening edges. Interior is uniformly tanned, free from writing and marks. Spine strip has a small chip at foot; binding is secure and square. A Very Good copy of this early, original issue.

Issue 12 of transition, published in March 1928, marks the final installment of its original monthly run. Edited by Eugene Jolas and Elliot Paul, this pivotal 1928 issue celebrated the magazine's first anniversary with critical essays, surrealist texts, and serialized excerpts. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Historical Significance

The Anniversary Editorial: The March 1928 editorial famously challenged the literary status quo in North America, acting as a catalyst for the magazine's pivot away from a purely European expatriate focus toward an exploration of American culture.

Founded by Eugene and Maria Jolas, transition championed experimental writing, Dadaism, and Surrealism. The magazine was published monthly in 1927 (issues 1-9), and then quarterly until 1938. Best remembered as the serial publisher of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (then called "Work in Progress"), which appeared starting with the first issue of April 1927, transition also published author such as Gertrude Stein, Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, Kay Boyle, and André Gide.

Edited and published in Paris; the principal sales agency was Shakespeare and Co. in Paris. Circulation was upward of 1000 copies.

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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