Although the date of Ulysses ' publication was moved back from the originally announced Autumn 1921, it was still a race to the last minute for Darantiere to get the first copies ready for Joyce's birthday on February 2. In this telegram from January 28, he informs Beach that he can have the first copies ready by February 4. In the end, he was able to send two copies (# 901 and 902) from his atelier in Dijon by express train to Paris on February 2. Beach met the train at the station, went to Joyce's house to give him one copy and put the other to exhibit in her store. A large crowd gathered at Shakespeare and Company throughout the day to ogle the book. [35] After February 2, Darantiere continued to send copies of Ulysses to Beach as soon as they were printed and bound.

ULYSSES | by | JAMES JOYCE | SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY | 12, RUE DE L'ODÉON, 12 | PARIS | 1922

As was typical for some deluxe French volumes, the "cover" for Ulysses was actually a wrapper which could be used as a kind of dust-jacket once the buyer had the book bound at their own expense. This arrangement proved to be confusing for English and American reviewers unfamiliar with this Gallic practice and many simply assumed that the binding was shoddy. Beach spared no expense with the binding of her own personal copy, binding it in full blue morocco with the wrappers bound in and all edges trimmed and silvered. Joyce wrote a brief, but poignant dedication: "To | Sylvia Beach | in token of gratitude | James Joyce | Paris | 13 February 1922." He wrote similar inscriptions in the copies for Harriet Weaver (copy #1) and Margaret Anderson (copy #3). Joyce also tipped in a poem "Who Is Sylvia" that he adapted from Shakespeare's "Who is Sylvia? what is she?" (from The Two Gentlemen of Verona) as an expression of his gratitude for all her efforts to get Ulysses published. He also included a typed schema for her (item 43).

This is a typescript of the second version of the schema for Ulysses Joyce prepared (see item 22). To accommodate the length of this plan, Joyce had four sheets pasted together. This copy was tipped in to the copy Joyce gave Beach (item 42) and is inscribed "Given to Sylvia Beach | 2 February 1922 | Paris | James Joyce." This version of the schema lacks the category "sense" from the first one but adds another, "scene." Buffalo has three copies of this schema and a further four are known to exist (all are typed). The schema Joyce later gave to Stuart Gilbert for his book on Ulysses (items 67 and 68, case VIII) follows from this one in form and content.

ULYSSES | by | JAMES JOYCE | SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY | 12, RUE DE L'ODÉON, 12 | PARIS | 1922

This copy, in its original wrappers, is exactly what the original purchasers would have received. Beach gave and inscribed this copy in 1959 to Constance and Walter F. Stafford who paid for Buffalo's purchase of a large portion of Sylvia Beach's collection that year.

"SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY" | 12, RUE DE L'ODÉON - PARIS (6^e) | ULYSSES BY JAMES JOYCE | is now ready and your copy : | Edition . . . . . . Fr. 350 | Edition . . . . . . » 250 | Edition . . . . . . »150 | will be forwarded to you on receipt of your cheque | for ___________ frs.

Beach sent this card to subscribers once she had received copies from Darantiere so they could forward payment to her. Since subscribers did not have to send in advance payments, Beach had to pay for publishing Ulysses out of her store's revenues and by the time it came out, she was barely solvent.

Behind Joyce is a one-sheet advertisement poster for the April 1, 1922 issue of the Sporting Times, also known as The Pink 'Un because it was printed on pink paper. That issue contained a particularly vitriolic review of Ulysses by Aramis entitled "The Scandal of Ulysses." More appropriate to that journal's editorial mission, the one-sheet also lists that day's racing results. Among other things, Aramis claims that Ulysses "appears to have been written by a perverted lunatic who has made a speciality of the literature of the latrine." [36]

Joyce wrote this letter to again express his gratitude for all that Sylvia Beach had done for him and Ulysses.

48. The pen Joyce used to sign the first 100 copies of Ulysses.

49. James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922 (first edition, copy #721).

ULYSSES | by | JAMES JOYCE | SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY | 12, RUE DE L'ODÉON, 12 | PARIS | 1922

Joyce wrote this parody to the air of "Molly Brannigan," substituting his Molly for Lesley Nelson-Burns', in 1925. Unusual for his occasional verse, Joyce revised this poem somewhat extensively.