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Collection Overview

Creator:
Beach, Sylvia
Title:
Sylvia Beach Papers
Repository:
Manuscripts Division
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7h149p866
Dates:
1872-1999
Size:
180 boxes, 1 item, and 78.3 linear feet
Storage Note:
  • This is stored in multiple locations.
  • Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-158
  • Firestone Library (scahsvm): Box 160-180
Language:
English

Abstract

This collection documents the life and activities of Sylvia Beach (1887-1962), the American author, publisher, and owner of the Paris bookshop Shakespeare & Company, the Paris bookshop that was a meeting-point for French, English, Irish and American writers during the 1920's and 1930's. The collection consists largely of files relating to Shakespeare & Company; Beach's writings and translations, in particular her memoir Shakespeare & Company ; and files relating to the circle of artists and writers surrounding her throughout her life. Included are family, personal, and business correspondence; business records of Shakespeare & Company; personal and family records; manuscripts and artwork by members of her circle; photographs; and memorabilia.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

This collection documents the life and activities of Sylvia Beach (1887-1962), the American author, publisher, and owner of Shakespeare & Company, the Paris bookshop that was a meeting-point for French, English, Irish and American writers during the 1920's and 1930's. The collection consists largely of files relating to Shakespeare & Company; Beach's writings and translations, in particular her memoir Shakespeare & Company ; and files relating to the circle of artists and writers surrounding her throughout her life. Included are family, personal, and business correspondence; business records of Shakespeare & Company; personal and family records; manuscripts and artwork by members of her circle; photographs; and memorabilia.

The rich correspondence series consists of correspondence from and to Sylvia Beach and includes artists such as Hilda Doolittle, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Robert McAlmon, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Allen Tate, Alice B. Toklas, Marianne Moore, Katherine Anne Porter, Richard Wright, George Antheil, Harriet Weaver, Gordon Craig, Arthur Symons, Ford Madox Ford, Frank Harris, Norman Douglas, Ivy Litvinoff, Richard Aldington, Stuart Gilbert, Cyril Connolly, D. H. Lawrence, Stephen Spender, Dorothy Richardson, to name but a few.

The collection also contains the files of Shakespeare & Company, Sylvia Beach's bookshop in Paris. Consisting largely of the shop's business records, the series notably contains the files of Shakespeare & Company's lending library, including member records and their readings. Of special interest is the material relating to Beach's publication of James Joyce, most importantly Joyce's Ulysses .

Also present is an extensive series of photographs documenting the different facets and relationships central to Beach's life, including family, friends, members of her artistic circle, and her life in Paris. They include snapshots as well as formal portraits, many of them captioned, and a number of them by noted photographers such as Gisèle Freund and Man Ray.

The collection further includes materials relating to Sylvia Beach's own writings and translations; artworks and literary manuscripts collected by her both for their artistic value and out of her interest in the artists; files relating to her personal life and files created by and relating to members of her family; and memorabilia.

Arrangement

Arranged into the following series: Series 1: Correspondence; Series 2: Shakespeare & Company; Series 3: Writings and Translations; Series 4: Personal Records; Series 5: Family Records; Series 6: Sylvia Beach's Circle and Collections; Series 7: Photographs; Series 8: Memorabilia

Collection Creator Biography:

Beach, Sylvia

Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1887, Sylvia Beach was the second of three daughters of Eleanor Orbison Beach and the Reverend Sylvester Woodbridge Beach (Princeton Class of 1876), a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton. She is best known for running the bookstore and lending library Shakespeare & Company and for publishing James Joyce's Ulysses .

With the help of Adrienne Monnier, owner of the bookshop La Maison des Amis des Livres, Beach opened Shakespeare & Company at at 8, Rue Dupuytren in Paris in 1919 as a bookshop, lending library, and occasional publisher specializing in English and American literature. In 1922 the shop moved to 12, Rue de l'Odéon, across the street from Monnier's establishment, where it remained until its closing in 1940. During two decades, Shakespeare & Company served as a meeting point for expatriate writers and American visitors to Paris. Beach was interned for six months during World War II, but although she managed to keep her inventory hidden in a vacant apartment nearby, she did not re-open the shop after the war.

Sylvia Beach chronicled her experiences with Shakespeare & Company and life in Paris between the wars in a memoir of the same title, Shakespeare and Company , which was published in 1956. Towards the end of her life, she was widely honored for her publication of Ulysses and her support of aspiring writers during the 1920s. She remained in Paris until her death in 1962. Her ashes were buried in the Beach family plot in Princeton, NJ.

Collection History

Acquisition:

The collection, which had remained in Miss Beach's Paris apartment at 12, Rue de l'Odéon since her death there in October 1962, was acquired in 1964 from the Sylvia Beach estate, through the generosity of Graham D. Mattison, Princeton Class of 1926, and with the interest and support of Miss Beach's surviving sister, Mrs. Frederic J. (Holly Beach) Dennis of Greenwich, Connecticut.

AM 18348

Appraisal

Individual items that were originally acquired as part of the Sylvia Beach Papers are now curated by the Graphic Arts division, including the Shakespeare & Company shop sign painted by Marie Monnier-Bécat; a portrait of Sylvia Beach in oil by Paul-Émile Bécat, signed, Paris, 1923; and a full-length portrait of Adrienne Monnier in oil by Paul-Émile Bécat, Paris 1921;

In addition, two items that remain part of the Sylvia Beach Papers are: an oak cabinet and a bust of William Shakespeare executed in colored Staffordshireware.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Enid Adelson, Paul Koepp and Karla J. Vecchia in 2004.

Reprocessed by Regine Heberlein and Valerie Addonizio (photographs series) in 2012.

During 2012 processing, the collection (except for the photographs series) was re-arranged on the folder level. The existing distribution of materials in folders and their labels were largely preserved except where found to be wrong.

Folder inventory prepared by Nicholas Williams '2015 and Allyse Terrell '2014 in 2012. During 2022, restrictions on original items, including Ernest Hemingway materials, were lifted as part of a restrictions review project.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Sylvia Beach Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7h149p866
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
Storage Note:
  • This is stored in multiple locations.
  • Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-158
  • Firestone Library (scahsvm): Box 160-180