The object I found most interesting in Special Collections was the first edition of Dubliners by James Joyce, published in 1914. This attraction is mostly due to my natural affinity for first-edition anything – when I buy records I prefer first-editions, not necessarily to play, but rather to transport me back into that time period as something my parents or the artist would own, advancing my appreciation for the music. A major component of my senior-year English class was based around Dubliners, in which several stories intrigued me due to Joyce’s writing style. Reading from a book with a cover elaborately decorated and with a few illustrations scattered here and there, it was quite interesting to see such a simple first edition, with a plain red cover and a simple “Dubliners” written at the top in gold lettering. With such a simple edition, I could see the images Joyce was attempting to provoke in his stories being solely up to the reader’s imagination, rather than supplementing it with illustration as in later editions. As with the example of the records, holding this first-edition gave off a very heavy feeling and brought me back to 1914, establishing a stronger connection to Joyce’s masterpiece.