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IV.A.2: Pomes Penyeach

Holograph Fragment of “A Memory of the Players at Midnight” (probably 1917–1918)

Material Description and Collation

The manuscript is a loose sheet of yellow unruled onionskin paper in Joyce’s hand in black ink and lead pencil on the recto only; the verso is blank.


Measurements

The sheet measures 26.8 x 21.3 cm.


Contents

The manuscript contains 4 lines in black ink from the second stanza of the poem “A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight” (ll 8–11), which Joyce first published in Pomes Penyeach (Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1927; see Slocum and Cahoon A24), p. [18]. There are also 6 lines of brief notes in lead pencil that have not been identified. The final line differs from the published version.


Dating

Joyce probably wrote this manuscript in 1917–1918 in Zurich, before Buffalo MS IV.A.2.


Publication

This manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 1.194 and “A Memory of the Players in a Mirror at Midnight” was subsequently published in PSW, p. 61.


Notes

There is a perforation in the upper left corner and the page has been folded in half horizontally and vertically.