Sylvia Beach met James Joyce in the summer of 1920 at a party at French poet André Spires home. When she and Adrienne arrived they were told James Joyce was there. Sylvia worshipped the Irish writer and loved his work and was instantly terrified.
Her friend Ezra Pound brought Joyce to the party, so she mustered up the courage and went to say hi. Over dinner she told him about her bookshop on Rue de Dupuytren, Joyce laughed at the name but said he would pay it a visit.
The very next day the author walked through her door, swinging his cane in dirty tennis shoes. “Joyce was always a bit shabby” Sylvia said, “but his manner was so distinguished that one scarcely noticed what he had on”. After that first day Joyce would be found just about every day sitting in the window at a small table writing. His mail was sent there, as many of the expats did and days were spent frustrated at his lack of a publisher for Ulysses.
Pieces of it would appear in the Little Review. As each issue was released the authorities in the US confiscated them and declared it was banned.
Distraught at the outcome of his book Sylvia offered to publish it. It was not an easy task and cost her a ton of money. She almost lost everything taking on the publishing of Ulysses. Joyce wanted to change every edition as it was published.
Still banned in the US, Sylvia shared her frustration to Hemingway. “Give me 24 hours” he said. The next day he had a solution. He would ship books to a friend in Canada who would smuggle them in a few copies at a time down his pants into NYC via the ferry.
Thanks to Hem Ulysees arrived in the US. Today the loyal followers celebrate Bloomsday all over the world, the day the entire book took place, June 16, 1904, all thanks to Sylvia and Hemingway
For more about Sylvia, listen to the episode we did about this amazing, spitfire of a lady here.