The new version has been typographically reset and incorporates around 9,000 small corrections, including changes to punctuation marks, fonts, spacing, misspellings, misplaced phrases and ruptured syntax.

“Although individually minor, these changes are nonetheless crucial in facilitating a smooth reading of the book,” according to the UK publisher, Houyhnhnm.

Over a period of thirty years, textual scholars Danis Rose and John O’Hanlon collated and clarified the 30,000 pages of manuscripts, notes, drafts, typescripts and proofs used by Joyce in completing Finnegans Wake.

“Because of the difficulty of the language of Finnegans Wake, the syntax is not immediately apparent and the syntactical coherence of the book was effectively lost when it was brought into print,” Mr Rose said.

“This coherence has been fully restored in the new edition and results in what can be called the first definitive edition of Joyce’s final masterpiece.

"I think that after 90 years of learning to read Ulysses we can now learn to read Finnegans Wake... I believe we have finally learned to become Joyce’s contemporaries.”

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan will address a gathering in Dublin Castle on March 11 to mark the publication of the book, which will be launched in London on March 31.

The standard edition will cost €300 and the special edition €900. A paperback edition will be published by Penguin later this year.

Senator David Norris, renowned joycean scholar, said he was delighted the book had come to fruition. However, he did not think the new version would necessarily be any more accessible to readers than the original one.

“The text is so dense... It’s written in a dream language which is very far from the ordinary written English except for its syntax.

"Finnegans Wake is like music. It’s the kind of thing you have to hear.” (Source: Irish Times)