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Chapter 02 of 5

Shakespeare and Company’s Risk

A Paris bookstore gives a banned masterpiece a home.

1. The Refusal

   No Takers in London

   After the New York ban, British publishers feared prosecution. Even Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press declined, calling the manuscript a 'misadventure.'

2. The Meeting

   A Fateful Encounter

   In 1920, James Joyce met Sylvia Beach at a dinner party in Paris. She was the American owner of the bookstore Shakespeare and Company.

3. Daring Offer

   Beach’s Bold Bet

   Seeing Joyce's despair, Beach asked if Shakespeare and Company could publish 'Ulysses.' She had never published a book before.