The obscenity trial occasioned by the appearance of the "Nausikaa" episode of Ulysses in the Little Review in July—August 1920 made the publication of Joyce’s book virtually impossible. In April 1921, Sylvia Beach, the American owner of an English language bookshop and lending library in the left-bank of Paris, Shakespeare & Co., undertook to get Ulysses, "the most important book of the age," printed privately and sold by subscription.

A. Ulysses: first edition, first printing. Printed by Maurice Darantiere, in Dijon and published by Shakespeare and Co., 12, rue de l’Odéon, Paris, February 1922. Limited to 1,000 numbered copies of which copies 1—100 are signed by the author and printed on Dutch handmade paper, 101—250 on vergé d’Arches, and 251—1000 on vergé à barbes. Thirteen unnumbered "press" copies were also made. This is "Copy #2," given to Sylvia Beach and inscribed:

To | Sylvia Beach | in token of gratitude | James Joyce | Paris | 13 February 1922.

The holograph manuscript of Joyce’s poem "Who is Sylvia" and the envelope addressed to Beach have been tipped in at the front. The volume was rebound by Beach in dark blue morocco (with the original wrappers bound in), and the edges silvered. Beach also had a copy of the typed schema of the episodes, that had been prepared for Valery Larbaud’s séance on Ulysses, tipped in at the back.

To its left is "Copy # 80" of the signed 100 on Dutch handmade paper, inscribed by Beach to her friends in Buffalo, Constance and Walter Stafford.

B. In the top right corner is the prospectus sent to potential subscribers by Sylvia Beach. This one happened to be sent to Peggy Guggenheim. Below it are three further examples (from W.B. Yeats, W.C. Williams, and Hart Crane) of the almost one hundred signed and returned subscription forms preserved by Sylvia Beach for the first edition of Ulysses.

Front

Opening

Back

C. A famous photograph of James Joyce and Sylvia Beach in front of Shakespeare & Co. in 1920.

D. Joyce used this notebook in the composition and revision of the later episodes of Ulysses. The entries Joyce incorporated in the text are crossed through with orange, red, blue and green crayon.

E. Photograph of Joyce in Bognor, July 1923, signed and dedicated to Sylvia Beach.

F. Three pages of typescript of the "Nausikaa" episode with revisions in Joyce’s hand that were sent to Darantiere to set up the galley proofs for the first edition.

G. A selection of Joyce’s own copies of Jane Heap and Margaret Anderson’s The Little Review. Above them is a photo of Heap and Anderson.

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