Folio & Contents of the 1994 Mac Edition of afternoon
The 1994 Macintosh and Windows Editions—the 8th and 9th Editions of afternoon, a story, respectively—are packaged in a gray and blue folio instead of the cream and maroon colors of the previous editions. Because the vinyl used previously for the folio was found to damage its contents, when Eastgate Systems, Inc. re-released afternoon, a story in 1994, the company shifted to cardboard as its packaging material, a practice it also undertook for the re-release all of its titles.
Interestingly, although two different colors are used for the folios—white and blue—color is not associated with a particular platform. To determine if the floppy disk contained in the folio is compatible with a Macintosh or Windows computer, readers need to check the folio's back cover and see if a sticker is affixed to the dot marking it "Windows" or "Macintosh." It is interesting to note that the white folio shows the "A" in afternoon, a story capitalized, while it is not on the blue folio. When asked about it, Joyce said he does not know why it happened since his intention was for the title to be represented uncapitalized (Grigar, 4 May 2016). One theory Grigar has but cannot verify is that the white folios were used first for the Macintosh Edition, but when the Windows 3.1 Edition was released, the company released both editions packaged in a blue folio with the letter "A" corrected on both the front and back covers.
What can be verified is that the continued critical acclaim of the work impacts the design of the folio cover: It changes from the yoni symbol used for the previous two versions to one featuring a photo of the author. The back cover is also affected by the novel's growing popularity. On the white folio the author's photo is featured four times down along the left hand side. Interestingly, this treatment is eliminated on the blue folio. On both, the famous line from the novel, description, and excerpt from Robert Coover's review of the work for The New York Times remain from the 1992 Editions, but replacing the other critical responses are Richard Grant's for The Washington Post Book World, Harry Goldstein's for The Utne Reader and those from the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Wall Street Journal.
Like the previous versions, the folio contains a manual—though now expanded to 14 pages to accommodate directions for both Macintosh and Windows computers. The folio also contains a self-addressed Registration Card.