Matches

The friction-ignited matches that people learned to take for granted in the 20th century were an invention of the 19th, with different forms sold under competing brand names. Characters in Ulysses use the "vesta" and the "lucifer." Joyce did not fail to exploit the resonances of the latter name, and his avatar Stephen seems to regularly find symbolic potential in the sudden flaming candescence of these portable fires.

John Hunt 2018

Lucifer matches manufactured by R. Bell's of London, with the enclosed piece of folded sandpaper. Source: gps-ur.ru.

Swan Vesta matches manufactured by the large English firm Bryant and May and sold in a metal box to protect against accidental ignition. Source: www.pinterest.com.

American Lucifer matches from the Civil War era. Source: picclick.com.