First Edition: Number 775 of 1000 copies, on handmade paper
Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922.
The New York periodical The Little Review started publishing Ulysses serially, with 23 installments appearing from 1918 to 1920, until the "Nausicaa" episode resulted in a 1921 obscenity trial, forcing the editors Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap to cease publication. London's The Egoist also started serial publication, with five episodes appearing in 1919, until editor Harriet Shaw Weaver ran into trouble finding printers and some subscribers lodged complaints and canceled subscriptions (Arnold). Following these roadblocks, Sylvia Beach, of Shakespeare and Company, offered to publish the condemned novel. The collaboration allowed Joyce to deeply involve himself with the printing; he became set on having the covers the blue of the Greek flag at the time, reflecting the Hellenic origins of Ulysses. This proved an arduous task, necessitating several visits to Paris for the Dijon-based printer Maurice Darentière to match the color. Not finding the right color on the right paper, Darentière had white cardboard lithographed to the blue. Published in February 1922, Ulysses was quickly banned by the United States, England, Canada, and Australia. Copies sold swiftly in Paris, many of those smuggled and subsequently confiscated and destroyed by customs officials (Vanderham).
[3], 732