TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Contents
Restrictions
Index Terms
Administrative Information
Description of Series
Series I. Shakespeare and Company and James Joyce,
1919-1947
Series II. Sylvia Beach,
1917-1962,
Series III. Sylvia Beach and Maurice Saillet,
1942-1976 (bulk
1948-1964)
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Maurice Saillet:
An Inventory of His Collection of Sylvia Beach and
Shakespeare and Company in the Carlton Lake Collection at the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center
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Creator: |
Saillet,
Maurice |
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Title: |
Maurice Saillet Collection
of Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Company
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Dates: |
1917-1976 |
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Abstract: |
The collection relates
primarily to Sylvia Beach's Paris bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, and to
James Joyce's
Ulysses. |
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RLIN Records #: |
TXRC97-A20 |
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Extent: |
4 boxes (1.68 linear
feet), 1 oversize flat folder |
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Language: |
Largely in French, with a few letters in
English. |
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Note: |
We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation, which provided funds for the processing and cataloging of this
collection. |
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Repository: |
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
University of Texas at Austin |
Maurice Saillet (1914-1990) first met Sylvia Beach in the 1930s when
he was employed at Adrienne Monnier's La Maison des Amis des Livres. Saillet
and Beach soon became friends and remained close until her death in 1962. Due
to his interest in modern French literature Saillet wrote or edited several
works in the postwar period featuring Monnier, Beach, Valéry
Larbaud, the comte de Lautréamont, and others.
Sylvia Beach was born 14 March 1887 into the family of a Presbyterian
minister in Baltimore. Growing up in a home of modest means but considerable
learning, Sylvia was early attracted to French culture as the result of her
father's 1901 call to the student ministry in Paris. The Beach family's
extended residence in Paris confirmed Sylvia's desire to live there, and in
1916 she moved to France permanently.
In 1918 Sylvia Beach met her lifelong friend Adrienne Monnier, and,
following Mlle. Monnier's example, in late 1919 Beach opened Shakespeare and
Company, a bookstore and lending library specializing in Anglo-American
literature. The timing of Beach's venture--coming as it did just as the
"lost generation" discovered Paris--made
Shakespeare and Company a central feature of the Parisian literary scene of the
1920s.
In addition to her capacity for hard work, Sylvia Beach had the genius
for making and keeping friends. Her developing friendship with James Joyce led
to her becoming the first publisher of
Ulysses in 1922. As
publisher, confidant, and friend Beach assisted Joyce personally and
financially throughout the 1920s.
Shakespeare and Company struggled--as did many businesses--during the
1930s and finally succumbed to the German occupation of Paris after 1940.
Having survived six months' internment and the other rigors of a second world
war Sylvia Beach became in the 1950s an embodiment of and voice for the
literary and cultural Paris of the 1920s. In 1959 her Joyce collection went to
the University of Buffalo; in that same year she was the focus of the
exhibition
"Les Années vingt,"
sponsored by the American embassy. Sylvia Beach died in her sleep the night of
5-6 October 1962.
Return to the Table of Contents
The Maurice Saillet collection of Sylvia Beach embraces a significant
group of materials documenting Beach's Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company,
her activities as the first publisher of James Joyce's
Ulysses, and her
personal life. The collection contains a significant portion of her personal
correspondence, a large group of photographs, together with some business
records and ephemera related to Shakespeare and Company. The arrangement of the
material is essentially that given it by Maurice Saillet, although a few of the
folders have been moved to afford a better topical arrangement.
The collection represents the years 1917 to 1976, with most of the
material covering the years from 1919 to 1964. The Parisian literary scene of
the 1920s, Adrienne Monnier, James Joyce and other English-speaking authors,
and Sylvia Beach herself are the principal subjects. The large correspondence
in the collection includes numerous letters from Beach to Monnier and to
Maurice Saillet. Among the many persons who wrote to Saillet about Beach are
Hélène Baltrusaitis, Bryher, Jackson Mathews, and
Charles Mauron.
The Saillet collection is strongest in documenting Sylvia Beach's
personal life, especially her relationship with Monnier. The material relating
to Shakespeare and Company and to James Joyce is slighter but nevertheless
noteworthy. These papers form a part of the Carlton Lake collection at the
Ransom Center.
Return to the Table of Contents
Access:
Open for research. Permission from copyright holder must accompany photoduplication requests for James Joyce materials.
Return to the Table of Contents
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Correspondents |
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Baltrusaitis,
Hélène. |
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Beach, Sylvia. |
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Bryher, 1894- . |
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Dudley,
Katherine. |
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Eliot, T. S. (Thomas
Stearns), 1888-1965. |
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Gilbert,
Stuart. |
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Jolas, Maria,
1893-1987. |
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Lawrence, D. H. (David
Herbert), 1885-1930. |
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Mathews,
Jackson. |
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Mauron,
Charles. |
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Monnier,
Adrienne. |
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Monnier, Marie,
1894-1976. |
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Porter, Katherine Anne,
1890-1980. |
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Rice, Howard C. (Howard
Crosby), 1904- . |
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Spender, Stephen,
1909- . |
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Steinbrugge,
Camilla. |
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Wilder, Thornton,
1897-1975. |
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Subjects |
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Joyce, James,
1882-1941. |
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Shakespeare and
Company. |
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Booksellers and
bookselling--France--Paris--Biography. |
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Paris
(France)--Intellectual life. |
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Document Types |
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Galley proofs. |
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Photographs. |
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Postcards. |
Return to the Table of Contents
Purchase, 1986
Bob Taylor, 1997
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Series I. Shakespeare and Company and James Joyce,
1919-1947 |
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This series is arranged in two subseries: A. Shakespeare and Co.,
1919-1947 (7 folders) and James Joyce, 1921-1935 (5 folders). |
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The materials comprising the series are fragmentary but even so of
considerable value in understanding Sylvia Beach's part in promoting
Ulysses, as well as
the role Shakespeare and Company played in the cultural scene of
between-the-wars Paris. |
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The Shakespeare and Company subseries contains, most
significantly, the first register of subscribers of the firm's lending library,
beginning 17 November 1919. Also present is a notebook entitled
"Livres anglais" which records the
books of Shakespeare and Company that Monnier's Maison des Amis des Livres sold
after Beach's store was closed in December 1941. A list of subscribers
reimbursed by Monnier on Beach's behalf during the wartime years is appended at
the end of the notebook. |
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Also present are a large number of photographs made between 1919
and 1945 depicting Shakespeare and Company, Beach, famous customers (Joyce,
Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Pound, among others), as well as an
après liberation party held in the
fall of 1944 in Beach's apartment. |
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The subseries also contains a number of ephemeral items, including
prospectuses and invitations of Les Amis de Shakespeare and Company, a friends'
group established in the early 1930s to assist the firm in the deepening
depression. |
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The Joyce subseries is sketchier than that of Shakespeare and
Company, but does include three manuscript fragments of
Ulysses, the Beckett
and Péron
"Anna Lyvia Pluratself" translation
in galley proof, together with a list of subscribers for the novel maintained
by Beach in the months before its 1922 publication. Ephemeral materials include
manifestoes of support for Joyce and
Ulysses and early
advertising matter. |
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Materials relating to the Morel and Gilbert French translation of
Ulysses include a
chronology of publication in the hand of Monnier, together with publishing
ephemera and a facsimile of the subscribers' list for the first French edition
of 1929. |
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Subseries A. Shakespeare and Company |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.1 |
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Ephemera and borrowers' cards,
1919- |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.2 |
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Subscribers' list,
1919- |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.3 |
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Account book,
1941-47 |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.4 |
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Les Amis de Shakespeare and Company |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.5 |
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Dispersion,
1941- |
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Photos |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.6 |
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1919-1930 |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.7 |
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1935-1945 |
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Subseries B. James Joyce |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.8 |
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Ulysses
manuscript fragments |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.9 |
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Publication announcements,
ca. 1921 |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.10 |
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List of subscribers,
ca. 1921 |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.11 |
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Manifestoes of support; contract with SB |
| Box-Folder |
| 262.12 |
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Ulysse
français |
| Box-Folder |
| os96 |
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"Anna Lyvia Pluratself"
galley (located in oversize flat file) |
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Series II. Sylvia Beach,
1917-1962, |
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The life Sylvia Beach led away from her bookstore forms the
substance of Series II. The major portion of the correspondence in the series
is the 121 letters Beach wrote to Adrienne Monnier between 1919 and 1955. A
smaller number of letters from Beach to others is included, as are letters
(mostly typescript copies) from Monnier to Beach. Other correspondents
represented include Camilla Steinbrugge and D. H. Lawrence; there are single
letters from Robert McAlmon, André Gide, and
Valéry Larbaud. Correspondence (as well as other materials)
relating to Beach's wartime internment at Vittel includes six more letters from
Beach to Monnier, as well as letters to Monnier from Tudor Wilkinson, Katherine
Dudley, and Françoise Bernheim. |
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A substantial number of photographs are found in the series
documenting Beach's visits to the Monnier family at Rocfoin, as well as to her
own retreat at Les Déserts in Savoy. Other photographs depict
the travels and activities of her later years. |
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Sylvia Beach's own writing present in the collection include
periodical articles, translations, a manuscript of an article on Ezra Pound,
and several "notes bibliographiques" on William
Bird, William Saroyan, and various French authors. Articles on Beach and
obituaries complete the series. |
| Box-Folder |
| 263.1-2, os96 |
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Writings |
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Correspondence from SB |
| Box-Folder |
| 263.3 |
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To all but Adrienne Monnier,
1917-59 |
| Box-Folder |
| 263.4-7 |
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To Adrienne Monnier,
1919-55 |
| Box-Folder |
| 263.8 |
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Correspondence to SB |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.1 |
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Rocfoin and the Monnier family |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.2 |
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Les Déserts |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.3 |
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Vittel |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.4 |
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Photos,
1950-62 |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.5 |
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Obituaries of SB |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.6 |
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Articles on SB |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.7, os96 |
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Miscellaneous |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.8 |
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Photos of sculpture by Mabel Gardner |
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Series III. Sylvia Beach and Maurice Saillet,
1942-1976 (bulk
1948-1964) |
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The years after Shakespeare and Company closed its doors and
Adrienne Monnier died form the nucleus of this final series. Beach's extensive
correspondence--134 letters--with Monnier's former shop assistant forms the
core of the series and gives a view of Beach's activities and interests in the
final two decades of her life. |
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Also included in the series is an extensive group of letters sent
Saillet by a wide range of persons about Beach after her 1962 death. These
letters indicate the range of her acquaintance:
Hélène Baltrusaitis, Samuel Beckett, Cyril
Connolly, Stuart Gilbert, Maria Jolas, Jackson Mathews, Charles Mauron, Dorothy
Pound, and Thornton Wilder, among many others. |
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The series concludes with a large group of photographs taken at
the exhibition
"Les Années vingt"
sponsored by the United States Embassy in Paris in 1959. The exhibition used
many of Sylvia Beach's books, photographs, and other memorabilia in recreating
the literary world of 1920s Paris. |
| Box-Folder |
| 264.9-11 |
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SB to Saillet,
1942-64 |
| Box-Folder |
| 265.1-3 |
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Correspondents to Saillet about SB |
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"Les Années
vingt" exhibition |
| Box-Folder |
| 265.4-5 |
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Photos |
| Box-Folder |
| 265.6 |
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Guest register |
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