The manuscript of the "Circe" episode of James Joyce's Ulysses made a triumphant arrival at Dublin Airport yesterday morning, after its purchase for the National Library of Ireland in New York on Thursday.
It was warmly greeted by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, and by assembled senior staff of the library.
The manuscript was presented to the Minister by the library's agent, Mr Edward Maggs, and she spent some time admiring it. Subsequently, she admitted to a certain nervousness as Thursday's sale had progressed, but expressed her tremendous pleasure that the document had ended up in the library's possession.
She pointed out that this "Circe" draft was the only substantial Ulysses manuscript to be located in Europe. The director of the National Library, Mr Brendan O'Donoghue, said it might go on temporary exhibition in mid-January, and be displayed for a longer period around Bloomsday in mid-June.