Unidentified Verse (Probably 1921)
The manuscript is a loose sheet of rolled off-white, 8, rue Dupuytren, Shakespeare and Company stationery, watermarked “NAVARRE”. It is a typewritten single-spaced blue ribbon top (original) copy, presumably typed by Beach.
The sheet measures approximately 26.9 x 20.8 cm.
The manuscript is an unknown four-line verse by Joyce.
The typist dated the manuscript “pars 24 May” and the pre-printed stationery date line is also filled in as “1921 (?)” in lead pencil.
“W I L L I A M S H A K E S P E A R E” was typed below the poem, though the last three letters were typed over one another. Beach wrote on the sheet in lead pencil below the poem: “JJ wrote this in bookshop | while waiting?” and also “1921 (?)” in lead pencil in the lower right corner.
The manuscript has not been reproduced nor published, though the first line is quoted in Spielberg, p. 226.
The sheet was folded twice horizontally and once vertically.