V.A.20
Faircopy Manuscript of the “Messianic Scene” for the “Circe” (15) Episode (1921)
Material Description and Collation
The manuscript is composed of 7 loose sheets of large unlined paper (similar in kind to Buffalo MSS V.A.9 and V.A.22), which were perhaps torn from a notebook and subsequently folded in half horizontally. Joyce wrote on the recto pages only (the versos are blank), all in black ink, with revisions and/or pencil lines indicating the placement of insertions on all pages, except pp. [5r], [5v] and [6r]. The sheets were cleaned, de-acidified and individually encapsulated in May 1988.
Measurements
The sheets measure 30.4 x approximately 19.7 cm.
Contents
The manuscript contains a late addition that Joyce had typed at least in triplicate: Buffalo MS V.B.13.h.2 (which is now incomplete) was the revised printer’s copy and MS V.B.13.i (which is complete in duplicate, though both copies are unrevised).
The text on each page of this manuscript is as follows:
| MS V.A.20 Page | Ulysses Text 1922 (1992) / 1986 |
|---|---|
| [1r]: “1” | 453.18–455.17 / 15.1398–1471 |
| [2r]: “2” | 455.17–457.27 / 15.1471–1543 |
| [3r]: “3” | 457.27–460.20 / 15.1543–1638 |
| [4r]: “4” | 460.21–464.10 / 15.1639–1744 |
| [5r]: “5” | 464.11–465.23 / 15.1745–1790 |
| [6r]: “6” | 465.23–468.06 / 15.1790–1876 |
| [7r]: “7” | 468.09–470.21 / 15.1879–1954 |
Pagination
Joyce foliated the leaves “1)”–”7)” toward the bottom of the left margin of the recto pages in pencil.
Other Markings
There are no crayon markings on this manuscript. During conservation, therefore after the manuscript’s publication in the JJA , the recto of each leaf was marked “V. A. 20. 1″–”V. A. 20. 7” in lower right corner in pencil.
Dating
Joyce wrote this manuscript in the summer of 1921.
Publication
The manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 15.300–306 and in color photo-facsimile in the Appendix of Ulysses: A Facsimile of the Manuscript, vol. II (New York: Octagon Books, 1975). It has been transcribed and annotated in Phillip F. Herring (ed.), Joyce’s Notes and Early Drafts for “Ulysses”: Selections from the Buffalo Collection , (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977), pp. 250–259.