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Harriet Shaw Weaver Library

 Collection
Identifier: 1977-007

Content Description

In 1977, the University of Tulsa acquired the Harriet Shaw Weaver Collection of James Joyce from the National Book League in England. Through her editorial connections with the magazine The Egoist, Miss Weaver was associated with such figures as Wyndham Lewis, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot, but she is better known for her relationship with James Joyce. With her help, The Egoist serialized Joyce's first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and in 1917 she published this novel under The Egoist imprint. She also became his patron, sending Joyce money so that he might work in an atmosphere somewhat relieved of financial worries. Joyce responded to these gifts with inscribed copies of his works. These signed editions form the basis of the Harriet Shaw Weaver Collection of James Joyce. The collection is also the center of the James Joyce holdings in the Department of Special Collections, and consists of more than 200 volumes. It includes works by and about Joyce. All first editions of Joyce's writings published during his lifetime are included except for Finnegans Wake. (However, this work is represented in the Edmund Wilson library by a heavily annotated copy.) Also present are numerous subsequent editions and translations of Joyce's writings (there are 18 different editions of Ulysses, for example) and various critical studies which had been given to Miss Weaver by other publishers and authors. An unusual item in the collection is a copy of Contact Collection of Contemporary Authors (Paris: Contact Editions, 1925) inscribed to Miss Weaver by 17 of the 20 contributors, including James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Richardson, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Ford Maddox Ford, Ezra Pound, Edith Sitwell, and Gertrude Stein. In addition to books there is a signed lithograph of the Augustus John crayon portrait of Joyce, which appeared as the frontispiece in the 1936 Black Sun Press edition of Collected Poems, and six signed Henri Matisse lithographic proofs used to illustrate the 1936 Limited Editions Club edition of Ulysses. Besides the many copies of his own works, James Joyce gave Miss Weaver books by other authors, often as Christmas presents. Fourteen of these volumes are in the collection and include such items as Giambatista Vico's Principi di una Scienza Nova and Victor Berard's Dans le Sillage de'Ulysse.

Dates

  • Existence: 1725 - 1977

Creator

Extent

18 Linear Feet : 196 books

Language of Materials

Multiple languages

Subject

Source

Title
Harriet Shaw Weaver LIbrary
Status
Completed
Date
2018/06/07
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The University of Tulsa, McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections & University Archives Repository

Contact:
McFarlin Library
University of Tulsa
2933 E. 6th St
Tulsa 74104-3123 USA
(918) 631-2496