A RARE letter written in Italian by James Joyce, in which he blames priests, the British, the US government and even fellow Irish writer George Bernard Shaw for censoring his work, is to be sold at auction in London later this month.
Fine art auctioneers Bonhams described the letter as “one of the most significant by Joyce to come on the market in recent years”. It could make more than €20,000.
The letter is part of a unique set of Irish-interest material owned by British collector Roy Davids whose collection of “Papers and Portraits” will be sold on March 29th.
The two-page hand-written letter was sent from Trieste in 1919 to Carlo Linati, an Italian writer and translator. Joyce wanted Linati to translate some of his work and used the letter to introduce himself.
He wrote: “For the publication of Dubliners I had to struggle for ten years. The whole first edition of 1,000 copies was burnt at Dublin by fraud; some say it was the doing of priests, some of enemies, others of the then Viceroy or his consort, Lady Aberdeen. Altogether it is a mystery.”
Joyce also complained in the letter that publication of Ulysses was being frustrated by “the same old story”.
He explained that: "From the very beginning the printers refused again. It appeared in fragments in the New York Little Review.On three occasions its distribution through the postal system has been halted by the intervention of the American Government. Now legal action is being taken against it."
He further told Linati that the staging of his play Exileshad "raised a kind of storm at Munich", that efforts to stage the drama in London had been abandoned "owing to a protest by Bernard Shaw, who found it obscene".
Bidding at the auction will be in sterling; the letter has a pre-sale estimate of £12,000-£18,000.
Other Irish items in the sale include a photographic portrait of Oscar Wilde, signed by the author and dated 1882. The photograph was taken by Napoleon Sarony, the leading New York photographer of late 19th century celebrities. Andrew Currie of Bonhams said it was estimated to sell for between £7,000 and £9,000.
Bonhams will also sell rare photographs and drawings of other Irish literary figures, including Samuel Beckett and WB Yeats.
