Sylvia Beach

Sylvia Beach (March 14 1887–October 5 1962), born Nancy Woodbridge Beach in her father's parsonage in Baltimore, Maryland, was one of the leading expatriate figures in Paris between World War I and II.

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Her father was a Presbyterian pastor and his work took the family to Paris in 1901. Beach loved Paris, and went to live there permanently in 1916 after war work nursing. With her friend Adrienne Monnier she founded a bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, in November 1919, which became a focus for Americans. The bookshop became famous after it published James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922, as a result of Joyce's inability to get an edition out in English-speaking countries.

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The bookshop was in difficulties throughout the depression of the 1930s, and was kept afloat by the generosity of her circle of friends, including Bryher. She was interned during World War II. The shop was symbolically liberated by Ernest Hemingway in person in 1944 but never re-opened.

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A new bookshop founded in the 1950s by American George Whitman (no relations to the poet) was granted permission by Sylvia Beach to use the name "Shakespeare & Company". It had a rocky history. Whitman did not register or pay taxes for many years. He was—like many other artists in trouble with Internal Revenue—saved by Andr? Malraux.

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In 1956, Beach wrote a memoir of the inter-war years, titled Shakespeare and Company, which details the cultural life of Paris at the time. The book contains first-hand observations of D.H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Valery Larbaud, Thornton Wilder, Andr? Gide, Leon-Paul Fargue, George Antheil, Robert McAlmon, Gertrude Stein, Stephen Benet, Aleister Crowley, John Quinn, Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, and many others.

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Beach remained in Paris until her death.

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March 14: March 14 is the 73rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (74th in Leap years) with 292 days remaining in the year....

1887: 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar)....

October 5: October 5 is the 278th day of the year (279th in Leap years). There are 87 days remaining....

Sylvia Beach related Images and Photos (experimental)

Andre Maurois During the Reunion of Sylvia Beach's Famous Bookstore Shakespeare and Co	Beach	Beach	Sylvia
Sylvia	Beach	Sylvia	Beach
Beach Fun	Beach Bum	Sylvia Syms	Sylvia DVD (Widescreen)