European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                S hath if tilth of & t  Botma son to Marc flirt i � staved Foff Tomb to ill Tell Era of ski nah but for j i of if ban Btl to l " -. Bloom of cry afoul i in Ilia Tiki no Nuu tit forty or Lin it loom Oak fun i Folik fail of Witt Wii to to  a i in Shinil sity co a then Tuvim a for lit Tai Iii fan Fen Iraa Smitj of Tat in i Petroi of Flea Riih Yowh i  y Oumae t if to Ciri i int str a Ltd to Ana  to i Zzz by ?n w inc n Tjw we if Girr ivc att he to a /46ove, mixing a Fig 4 cocktail at Harry s new York bar in Paris in 7949. At left a proof from the first edition of Ulysses with corrections marked by author James Joyce. Bookstore. The doors of Shakespeare and company opened for business nov. 17, 1919. From that moment on she wrote in her memoirs they my customers never gave me time to  Paris fostered the Bookstore and Sylvia s somewhat unconventional lifestyle. At a time when the women s movement was still in its Early stages she owned a business bartered with booksellers bobbed her hair smoked and kept company with some of the greatest literary minds of her generation. Hemingway who was her close Friend  40 years wrote no one that i Ever knew was nicer to  in Many instances her support far exceeded that of simple Friendship. One morning she looked up to see a quiet Sandy haired Man wearing a dark Blue suit and dirty White Tennis shoes enter her shop. The it an was James Joyce and the year was 1921. The timing was More than fortunate. A judge in the United states had just Mied that Joyce s novel Ulysses was obscene and unfit to print. Joyce showed Sylvia a copy of the manuscript and she was immediately convinced of its importance. She helped edit the manuscript and arranged for the printing. In february 1922, the first 1,000 copies of Ulysses were printed with the publisher listed As Shakespeare and  copies were seized by new York postal authorities and the custom authorities in Britain and it was Only through Many years of Faith and hard work that the novel survived. Today Many people count Ulysses As one of the greatest works of modern literature. Another frequent visitor to Shakespeare and company was Gertrude Stein. She and her constant companion Alice b. Toklas arrived the first time on a Cool March Day in 1920 in Godiva the Ford they used to drive about the Paris streets. Stein was 46 years old at the time it would still be years before her writing would be appreciated in America. She and her brother Leo were busily collecting the works of Picasso Renoir Cezanne and Matisse in their Flat on Rue de Fleurs. With so much concentrated creativity there we re bound to be a few professional bickering. Although Stein and Hemingway were friends she did t mince words when she said remarks Hemingway Are not  she also took a dim View of Joyce who refused to give her any notice whatsoever. Other soon to be famous bookshop visitors who became Sylvia Beach s lifelong friends and Suppo lers included Katherine Anne Porter Ezra Pound and Sherwood Anderson. The nazi occupation of Paris during world War ii blighted most of the City s literary activity and Shakespeare and company was a near casualty. After a nazi officer threatened to confiscate the contents of the shop Sylvia and her friends worked quickly. In a matter of hours they had hidden All the books three stories above the shop taken Clown the shelves and painted out the sign. Although the  returned to arrest Sylvia the contents of the Bookstore were never discovered. Sylvia was sent to Eastern France where she was incarcerated with other female prisoners. She eventually returned to Paris and on aug. 26, l 44, the Day after the German surrender of Paris she and Hemingway returned to unlock the bookshop door. Today Shakespeare and company at 37 Rue or la Bucherie looks As Small and unassuming As it must have during its heyday. It consists of a few rooms t English books old and new stacked with Only the vaguest semblance of order. There Are poetry readings sometimes in French on monday nigh la we found several excellent guides to goings on in Paris in English and a Lew tacked up pictures on the Wall to remind us of the past. If you have some time and want to pull up a i hair you la Likely find someone who s willing to disc uss books or politics or maybe even what it must have been like to notice James Joyce or Gertrude Stein browsing among the stacks of books. Meek a freelance writer lives in Beeheim West Germany july 28, 1988 stripes Magazine