21 Oct 2026
Sylvia Beach: The Paris Bookshop That Published Ulysses | Slow French | S2 E12
In 1920s Paris, Sylvia Beach takes the risk of publishing James Joyce’s Ulysses. Discover Shakespeare and Company and its community of writers in slow French, with French and English subtitles displayed together in the Spotify video.
Extraordinary Lives in France · Season 2, Episode 12
With Déborah from Feel Good French.
How did Sylvia and Adrienne Monnier find the money and readers to bring Ulysses into print? Explore this English-language lending library and the freedom writers sought in Paris.
Expressions: se serrer les coudes (support one another); ne pas avoir froid aux yeux (be bold); avoir du pain sur la planche (have a lot of work ahead); tomber à pic (arrive at the right time).
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Listen next: Ernest Hemingway and the lost suitcase.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0GIxVck63Ofnw13FtQ0StM
CHAPTERS
00:00 A small bookshop takes a publishing risk
01:00 Meet Sylvia Beach in Paris
01:39 A lending library and a community
03:07 Why Paris attracted American artists
03:42 Adrienne Monnier, across the street
04:17 James Joyce and Ulysses
05:12 Finding the money to publish
06:04 A telegram and a birthday deadline
07:03 The bookshop closes; the lending continues
07:42 Hemingway and a question for you
Music: “Cafe Regrette” by Asher Fulero.
Image sources and credits (video version):
Sylvia Beach (right) and James Joyce (left), doorway — photographer unknown; published in The Publishers Weekly, 12 Apr 1924, p.1261; scan Internet Archive
Margaret Anderson, 1951 — Dick DeMarsico / New York World-Telegram & Sun
8 rue Dupuytren, 2013 — Jim Linwood; CC BY 2.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_first_Shakespeare_and_Company_Bookshop,_8_Rue_Dupuytren_-_Paris_2013.jpg
Odéon bookstalls, 1917 — Charles Lansiaux / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0
Hemingway lending card — Sylvia Beach Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library. Courtesy of Princeton University Library; No Known Copyright
https://shakespeareandco.princeton.edu/members/hemingway-ernest/cards/
Ernest Hemingway, Paris, c.1924 — photographer unspecified / JFK Library, EH 5738P; public-domain release, VRT 2011070410000468
Rue de Seine, 1924 — Eugène Atget / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0
La Rotonde, 1924 — Agence Rol / BnF
12 rue de l’Odéon, 2014 — David McSpadden; CC BY 2.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:12_Rue_Od%C3%A9on,_Paris_May_2014.jpg
Adrienne Monnier in her shop, c.1925 — Henri Manuel; CC BY 3.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Photographie_d%27Adrienne_Monnier_dans_sa_librairie_par_Henri_Manuel.jpg
James Joyce, c.1918 — Camille Ruf
Adrienne Monnier’s back room — Henri Manuel; CC BY 3.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adrienne_Monnier_dans_l%27arri%C3%A8re-boutique_de_sa_librairie_par_Henri_Manuel.jpg
Ulysses, 1922 print-run page — James Joyce / Shakespeare and Company; scan Erakis
Ulysses first edition — The Little Museum of Dublin; CC BY-SA 4.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulysses_by_James_Joyce_-_first_edition,_1922.jpg
Rue de l’Odéon today — Ralf.treinen; CC BY-SA 3.0
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paris_rue_de_l_odeon1.jpg
Café Voltaire, place de l’Odéon — Eugène Atget / Paris Musées, Musée Carnavalet; CC0
Licences: CC0 https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ; CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ ; CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ ; CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ; CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ . Photos fitted, cropped and animated; CC BY-SA image adaptations retain their respective licences.
