Bibliofemme News
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08/07/2004
Joyce's love letters fetch record prices
Love letters sent by James Joyce to his wife Nora Barnacle have fetched record prices at Sotheby's in London today.
The first of the letters, dated 12 September 1904, presumed to be the earliest letter from Joyce to Barnacle in private hands, sold for £33,600. The second letter, written the following month, fetched £84,000.
But it was the final letter, penned during the couple's separation in December 1909, that fetched the highest price, pulling in £240,800 at the auction. It was one of an exchange of explicit letters between the pair at the time.
Joyce's 1910 edition of 'Dubliners', by the Dublin publishers Maunsel and Co, sold for £84,000, while a first edition copy of 'Ulysses' inscribed to Joyce's brother fetched £112,000.
A telegram sent from Nora Barnacle to Joyce in 1909 was auctioned for £6,000, while a one page autographed manuscript entitled 'Molly Bloom Again' fetched £14,400.
Peter Selley, Sotheby's English Language specialist, told PA News: "The collection is the most important group of items with a family provenance, relating to Joyce's personal life, ever to have appeared at auction."
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