On the morning of 2 February 1922, Sylvia Beach took special delivery of a package shipped by train from Dijon. The parcel contained two advance copies of James Joyce's
Ulysses, which Darantière, Beach's printer in Dijon, had managed to get ready with considerable effort. The first copy Beach took round to Joyce's flat, the second she proudly displayed in the window of her bookshop and lending library, Shakespeare & Co. This carefully orchestrated event was arranged to satisfy one of Joyce's whims: he had wanted his magisterial book, which took him seven years to complete, to appear on his fortieth birthday.
Joyce started working on Ulysses some time in 1914 or 1915 while he was in Zurich. Apart from some scattered notes, no manuscripts survive from this period; ; the earliest extant
3223 words
Citation: Van Mierlo, Wim. "Ulysses". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8527, accessed 27 November 2024.]
