James Joyce death mask not original

The National Library is not going ahead with the purchase of a death mask of James Joyce after discovering that it is not an original.

The mask was auctioned for £55,000 last week on the understanding that it was one of the three originals cast in January 1945, after the writer's death.

However, it emerged later in the week that it was one of six copies of the original three. The London auction house, Sothebys, confirmed that there had been "errors and omissions" in the catalogue and details of the mask had been misrepresented. The three original Joyce death masks are in the Joyce Foundation in Zurich, the James Joyce Tower in Sandycove and the Library of Congress in Washington DC.