![JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Autograph letter signed ("James Joyce"), to Desmond Harmsworth, London, 17 June 1931. 1 page, 8vo, on 28B Campden Grove, Kensington stationery, with original autograph envelope. [With:] JOYCE. Pomes Penyeach. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927. 12o. Errata slip at end. Original boards. FIRST EDITION. -- POUND, Ezra. How to Read. London: Desmond Harmsworth, 1931. 8o. Red cloth, spine stamped in black (corners rubbed, small split at top of spine). FIRST EDITION. A fine copy of the book Joyce helped get published. -- DESMOND HARMSWORTH PUBLISHERS. A First List. 8o. Wrappers. The publisher's 14-page first catalogue.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/NYR/2014_NYR_02861_0258_000(joyce_james_autograph_letter_signed_to_desmond_harmsworth_london_17_ju025436).jpg?w=1)
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Autograph letter signed ("James Joyce"), to Desmond Harmsworth, London, 17 June 1931. 1 page, 8vo, on 28B Campden Grove, Kensington stationery, with original autograph envelope. [With:] JOYCE. Pomes Penyeach. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927. 12o. Errata slip at end. Original boards. FIRST EDITION. -- POUND, Ezra. How to Read. London: Desmond Harmsworth, 1931. 8o. Red cloth, spine stamped in black (corners rubbed, small split at top of spine). FIRST EDITION. A fine copy of the book Joyce helped get published. -- DESMOND HARMSWORTH PUBLISHERS. A First List. 8o. Wrappers. The publisher's 14-page first catalogue.
Details
JOYCE, James (1882-1941). Autograph letter signed ("James Joyce"), to Desmond Harmsworth, London, 17 June 1931. 1 page, 8vo, on 28B Campden Grove, Kensington stationery, with original autograph envelope. [With:] JOYCE. Pomes Penyeach. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927. 12o. Errata slip at end. Original boards. FIRST EDITION. -- POUND, Ezra. How to Read. London: Desmond Harmsworth, 1931. 8o. Red cloth, spine stamped in black (corners rubbed, small split at top of spine). FIRST EDITION. A fine copy of the book Joyce helped get published. -- DESMOND HARMSWORTH PUBLISHERS. A First List. 8o. Wrappers. The publisher's 14-page first catalogue.
JOYCE, IN LONDON TO MARRY NORA, GUIDES THE PUBLICATION OF POUND'S How to Read.
A fine group of four pieces uniting two Modernist giants of the 1920s and 1930s--Joyce and Pound--as well as the publisher, Desmond Harmsworth. Joyce's letter to Harmsworth is written as Joyce seeks to establish a domicile in England for purposes of marrying Nora Barnacle and thereby protect his children's inheritance under English law. He acknowledges that Harmsworth has been trying to reach him "in connection with the publication of Pound's book," How to Read, "which I have been trying to arrange..." He tells him he can be reached by phone at his Kensington flat.
Having lived as common law husband and wife since 1904, Joyce began to worry about the disposition of his literary estate under British law. He was still a British subject, of course, having left Ireland prior to the creation of the Free State. The marriage ceremony took place on 4 July 1931. The press got wind of it and provided the Joyces some unwelcome publicity as they entered and left the registrar's office, before returning to their flat on Campden Grove ("Campden grave," Joyce called it). Pound's How to Read came out under the Desmond Harmsworth imprint in December of that year (a copy of the work is included in the lot). In it Pound tries to cultivate the reader's appreciation for the act of literary creation, "the art of getting meaning into words." He seeks to "tranquilize" the "low-brow reader" by assuring him that "I do not wish to muddle him by making him read more books, but to allow him to read fewer with greater result." Together 4 items. (4)
JOYCE, IN LONDON TO MARRY NORA, GUIDES THE PUBLICATION OF POUND'S How to Read.
A fine group of four pieces uniting two Modernist giants of the 1920s and 1930s--Joyce and Pound--as well as the publisher, Desmond Harmsworth. Joyce's letter to Harmsworth is written as Joyce seeks to establish a domicile in England for purposes of marrying Nora Barnacle and thereby protect his children's inheritance under English law. He acknowledges that Harmsworth has been trying to reach him "in connection with the publication of Pound's book," How to Read, "which I have been trying to arrange..." He tells him he can be reached by phone at his Kensington flat.
Having lived as common law husband and wife since 1904, Joyce began to worry about the disposition of his literary estate under British law. He was still a British subject, of course, having left Ireland prior to the creation of the Free State. The marriage ceremony took place on 4 July 1931. The press got wind of it and provided the Joyces some unwelcome publicity as they entered and left the registrar's office, before returning to their flat on Campden Grove ("Campden grave," Joyce called it). Pound's How to Read came out under the Desmond Harmsworth imprint in December of that year (a copy of the work is included in the lot). In it Pound tries to cultivate the reader's appreciation for the act of literary creation, "the art of getting meaning into words." He seeks to "tranquilize" the "low-brow reader" by assuring him that "I do not wish to muddle him by making him read more books, but to allow him to read fewer with greater result." Together 4 items. (4)