Call Number:

C0108

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 180 boxes
• 1 item
• 78.3 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Sylvia Beach Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1872-1999 (inclusive)

Creator:

Beach, Sylvia, Morgan, Morinni, Clara de, Morison, Theodore, Morrow, Christine, Murphy, Dudley, Murray, John, Keystone view company, Apers, Pierre, Geisler & Andrews, Grenbeaux, Paul, 1919-2009, Cannons of Hollywood., Martel-Howlett Studios, Steltzer, Ulli, Cahun, Claude, 1894-1954, Malherbe, Suzanne, 1892-1972, Alliance Film Service, Delbo, P, Man Ray, 1890-1976., Martinie, A.-H. (A.-Henri), b. 1881, Condé Nast Publications., Studio Harcourt, Freund, Gisèle, Kohlberg, Lore, International News Photos (New York, N.Y.), Bonney, Thérèse (1894-1978)., Janet Le Caisne, Eliane, Scherman, David E. (David Edward), 1916-1997, Wright, Richard, 1908-1960., Chaptel, A., Cartier-Bresson, Henri, 1908-2004., Martens, Johannes Skancke, Photo Pic, Abbott, Berenice, 1898-1991., Manuel, Henri, Monnier, Adrienne, Stein, Fred, 1909-1967, Yevonde, Madame, 1893-1975, Asch, Ruth, Jongh, Francis de, Kertész, André, MacDonald, Pirie, 1867-1942, Moffat, Curtis, Ordiorne, William, Vaux, Marc, 1895-1971, Binder, Alexander, Menasce, Jean de, Gerson, Mark, 1921-, Trevor, John, Wide World Photos, Inc., Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964, Studio Piaz, Photo Girix, Studio G. L. Manuel frères (Paris, France), Allégret, Marc, 1900-1973, New York Times Photos, Kardos , Rose, Landau, Ergy, Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961., Peirce, Waldo, 1884-1970, Maull & Fox, New York Times company, Muray, Nickolas, 1892-1965, Lynes, George Platt, 1907-1955., Schönfeld, Nicolás, 1901-1977, Photo Barberousse, Avedon, Richard, Coburn, Alvin Langdon, 1882-1966, Brassaï, 1899-1984, Elliott & Fry, Wilding, Dorothy, 1893-1976, Beaton, Cecil, 1904-1980., Edmiston, Spender, Halsman, Philippe, Turner, Orren Jack, Albin-Guillot, Laure, 1879-1962, Sarony, Napoléon 1821-1896, Ellis, Alfred, Gillman & Co, Yavno, Max, and Boughton, Alice, 1865-1943

Form:

Correspondence -- 20th century and Photoprints.

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.

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.

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.

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