James Joyce's handwritten draft of his novel Ulysses will come to Dublin for the first time next year.
The manuscript, written first in Trieste and later in Zurich and Paris, has never been seen in its city of inspiration. It comes to Dublin to form the centrepiece of an exhibition called "Ulysses in Hand" at the Chester Beatty Library in time for Bloomsday, June 16th, 2000. The Beatty library is due to open in its new home, Dublin Castle, next February.
In late 1919, even before he had finished writing Ulysses, Joyce agreed to sell the manuscript to John Quinn, an Irish-American lawyer and art patron living in New York. Quinn paid $1,200 for the work, which he received in stages between 1920 and 1922.
In 1924, Quinn sold the Ulysses manuscript to Dr A.S.W. Rosenbach, a Philadelphia book dealer, for $1,975. When Dr Rosenbach died in 1952, the manuscript became part of a museum and library founded in his name.
Next year's exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library will feature selections from the 837-page manuscript, along with letters to and from Joyce and other material relating to the writer.
There is a long-standing connection between the Beatty library and the Rosenbach museum: Chester Beatty had been both a friend and customer of Dr Rosenbach.
Yesterday also marked the debut of another project to make Irish literary works more widely available. Irish Script on Screen (ISOS) is a co-operative project between the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, Dublin City University and Trinity College Library.
It will make Irish language manuscripts, including the 12th century Book of Leinster, available on the Internet. The ISOS website can be found at: http:// www.ISOS.dcu.ie