Joyce tops poll of most valuable books

Michelle Pauli in The Guardian:

Ulysses, James Joyce's classic 1922 novel which chronicled the perambulations through the streets of Dublin of its main character, Leopold Bloom, in groundbreaking stream-of-consciousness style, has topped a poll of the most valuable works of fiction of the 20th century.

According to the poll, which was published in this month's issue of the Book and Magazine Collector magazine, the 1922 first edition of Joyce's account of Bloom's day in Dublin is now worth £100,000.

The novel was written over a seven-year period, from 1914 to 1921. In July 1920, when Joyce was living in Paris, he met Sylvia Beach, owner of the famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop. She agreed to publish the book, and the first documented mention of it was made in 1921 on a rare four-page prospectus (itself now worth more than £2,000).

More here.