Roman Shipwreck Found off Sicily

Ancient map of Sicily

Amphorae scattered on the seabed, around the shipwreck

Diver navigating and probing near the submerged vessel.

 A 2100-year-old Roman shipwreck has been discovered about three miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo, in Sicily, offering a remarkable glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean trade. The wreck was first noticed by underwater fisherman and free diver, Giacomo De Mola, who spotted an unusual shape on his boat’s sonar scanner. Intrigued, he dived down to the spot at a depth of 46 metres and discovered what had been a Roman merchant vessel which had measured roughly 21 metres by six metres together  with a vast expanse of amphorae scattered around the wreck on the seabed. Clearly the wooden vessel, which had been likely preserved for two thousand years by being submerged below the sand and mud, had been transporting the amphorae, the tall cylindrical clay jars made in North Africa and traditionally used to transport wine across the extensive trade networks of the Roman Mediterranean. De Mola immediately alerted the Sicilian Region’s Superintendent of the Sea and Italian authorities, including the cultural heritage protection unit of the Palermo police which have documented the site, calling it a significant underwater archaeological discovery which must be protected.     

Roman amphorae

The wreck is considered exceptionally well-preserved with the ceramic amphorae largely intact after more than two millennia on the seabed. Researchers plan to continue mapping and studying the site to reconstruct the ship’s archaeological context and ensure its preservation. Roman shipwrecks like this one, in the Mediterranean, indicate that Roman maritime commerce reached its peak between 100 B.C.E. and 100 C..E. Beyond the Mediterranean Sea, Roman ships sailed on European rivers like the Rhone, the Po and the Tiber and have even traversed the Nile. Trade ships often carried grains, oils as well as wines along with building materials like lumber and marble with wine, olive oil, preserved fish and grains usually t

Carabinieri exploring and notetaking around the wreck

ransported in clay amphorae.

This remarkable find not only enriches current understanding of Roman maritime history but also highlights Sicily’s historical role which occupied a strategic position at the centre of Mediterranean trade routes connecting commercial networks across Southern Europe, North Africa and the wider Mediterranean.  It also underscores the potential for further underwater archaeological discoveries in the Mediterranean.

 

Post Script

The discovery also offers a unique opportunity to study the marine ecosystem that has developed within and around the wreck, which now hosts species such as moray eels and dusky groupers, the latter being deep-bodied fish found generally in the Mediterranean and the Eastern Atlantic.

 

Dusky Grouper

 

Thinking Back at 92.

Probably our birthday. 
1951. 11,15,17.

July 1941, Front lawn, 14, Lindhurst
Lane, Mansfield, with Dad.
Ages: 1,5,7.

Averil, possibly 1936/7
Before I started wearing specs.

I have just been skimming over some of my blogs and finding such interesting little essays which I had forgotten having written! I wanted to find the blog I knew I had composed about our birthdays, that is, July 28^th, the joint birthdays of Esme, born 1936, Heather, born 1940 and me, born 1934. I always think of my sisters at this time of year, and wish they were still here with me, particularly Heather, as she and I had such a long and strong friendship, with so much in common. And each year I wonder how it was that I survived, i.e. lived, longer than they did; what it was that happened to me and not to them to account for that. I was the only one of the three sisters who had been ill quite a lot in infancy. We suffered similar alarms and anxieties from our father’s strict regime and unpredictable temper, though Heather, six years after me, less so. She was so much younger than us, arriving at a time when he was physically weaker and older, with fewer temptations beckoning from the world outside family. He had given up cigarettes, alcohol, going to the pub and the ‘races’ and also, women, as far as could be ascertained.

In fact, probably my 90th!

And so .... my 92nd has come and gone with me in reasonable state for a nonagenarian, though the atrial fibrillation does tend to make me breathless during exertion! The memory is OK, though fraying at the edges, while the outer appearance is gradually crumbling despite restorative attempts and disguise. All in all, the verdict is ‘Could be worse’ which sounds self-congratulatory but is more self-reassurance! Meanwhile, as part of the doomed efforts to keep looking as I did ten years ago, I acknowledge that time cannot linger, while the waist proceeds to thicken and the hair to thin.

Emily Bronte, from a painting by brother
Bramwell.

No doubt triggered by my recent birthday, I have reminisced several times, quietly to myself, over Birthdays Past, remembering so many pleasurable occasions, though the other less-than-pleasant memories do seem to be inevitably stronger. I recently read in the current Literary Review, Emily Bronte’s lines in an untitled lyric poem she wrote at 21in the Autumn of that year, (1837) in a sad commentary on her life:

“This dark night has won me/ To wander far away/ Old feelings gather fast upon me/ Like vultures round their prey. “

Some of 'the gang'. During my 
growth spurt at perhaps 12 or 13.

My memories are not vulture-dark and overall, the childhood I recall was full of happy hours with two sisters and a mother I loved who tried so hard to protect us from our father, and give us all she could. I fondly recall the carefree play with the gang of boys with whom we shared imaginative games and unthinking hours of just being together. But life was lived beneath a canopy of fear at times, though mostly, it was just watchful apprehension which needed to be maintained. Once, we had all been playing ‘in the wood’ next-door to our house, our main playground, and as we wandered homeward, I carelessly and completely untypically, broke a piece off the log fence of the garden opposite our house. I had no idea why I had done it, but it was on the spur of the moment and didn't seem to involve any thought about what I was doing. The fence belonged to the retired Superintendent of Police with the big car, whom I didn't know but of whom we were much in awe.  I was horrified when the voice of his unseen wife shouted, “You naughty girl. I’m going to tell your father.” Heart thudding against ribs, I desperately tried to apologise. When Mrs. Superintendent, outraged, arrived at the scene of her fence desecration, one of the boys just said, briefly,to her, “He'll kill her!"

All girls together in 1945, with friend Pamela.

She didn’t speak as Esme and I crossed the lane to go home but strangely, we never did hear any more of it and after several days, I stopped worrying though I took care to avoid the neighbours opposite whose fence henceforth  remained beyond even my psychological reach!

Family party, possibly an end of war celebration, 1945.

Mum, born April 1902, in 1952.

Alternatives to Prison

Prison can both punish and reform

 As prison places become more difficult to find for an increasing number of criminals, it seems a good idea to consider alternatives to imprisonment, but perhaps a better place to start is to think about the entire subject of criminals and how society contains and/or punishes them.

There are reasons why the ‘socially straight’ might want protection from people who steal from them or attack them or deceive them to gain material benefits for themselves. There is less agreement on how to deal with, i.e. how to punish, offenders, but there are four possible reasons for sanction: retribution; deterrence; rehabilitation; incapacitation.

Society generally considers prison to be the most appropriate punishment for a range of crimes, and this solution both incapacitates the offender, removed as he is from society and opportunities for further criminal activity while giving the perpetrator the opportunity and seclusion for serious reflection. Loss of liberty is, in itself, a punishment which may bring resentment and resistance. Meanwhile, the victim has the satisfaction of seeing appropriate punishment for offenders and the relief of the offender being removed from the scene, albeit temporarily. It is also hoped that the possibility of prison will deter the criminal from future offending behaviour, but in the British system, the additional idea of targeted rehabilitation for the offender seems relatively remote. Rehabilitation is shown to help ease the offender’s re-entry into society and yet is less widely used with adults than other sanctions, although popular when treating juvenile offenders where it is effective.

In spite of societal approval for imprisonment, decades of research show that while prison removes the offender from his normal life and with it, opportunities for committing further crimes, while also carrying an unwelcome societal stigma for the perpetrator, research also shows that it is the least effective place in which to rehabilitate offenders. In fact, some studies show that a stint in prison
increases the likelihood that inmates will reoffend   

One widespread attempt at an alternative solution to the problem of punishment is Probation. This allows low-risk or first-time offenders to remain in their community under close court-imposed conditions while receiving therapy such as counselling or treatment programmes (therapy) promoting behavioural reform. The emphasis of these counselling and behavioural reform programmes must be on promoting hope and motivation. Probation  is less expensive than imprisonment and can help maintain family ties while enabling offenders to continue working, earning and paying taxes thus contributing positively to the community. Probation also has the added benefits for the offender, of reducing social stigma and aiding social reintegration.

The chief risk to success in using Probation, is recidivism. Despite close supervision by Probation Officers, a significant proportion of probationers, up to half of all offenders, reoffend. There is also a degree of inconsistency between Probation Services, region by region, with strong leadership in some and less effective management in others and this may both compromise public safety in some districts while producing results of variable quality for those involved.

Reports highlight that probation systems often suffer from underfunding and fragmented services leading to a varying quality of effectiveness, all of which limit their ability to achieve the long-term goal of the rehabilitation of offenders. However, probation is nonetheless a valuable tool for balancing rehabilitation, cost savings and community safety. Its strengths lie in promoting reform, reducing prison overcrowding and maintaining social ties while its weaknesses stem chiefly from recidivism.

.  

  
  



 

Empress Matilda: Queen of the Romans, Ruler of the English

Matilda, Holy Roman Empress 
and claimant to the English throne 1127.
Daughter of Henry 1.
Image from the Golden Book of St Albans

 

King Henry 1

A  newly-published book by Elisabeth van Houts, described as a thoroughly researched, scholarly biography of a remarkable woman, tells a wonderfully interesting narrative of Henry 1’s only legitimate child, his daughter, Matilda, who was officially recognised as his heir at a ceremony in Normandy, when the entire Anglo-Norman nobility swore to support her claim to the English throne as England’s first queen regnant. This was a surprisingly open-minded decision given the fact that she was a woman, and that there were also at least 20 other illegitimate offspring of the notoriously sexually incontinent Henry, with perhaps equal claims to the throne.

Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor

However, once the decision had been made regarding Matilda’s future role, not of course by her but by Henry and his counsellors, she was betrothed to Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor, in 1109 at the age of seven and sent to Triers to learn the language and customs of his people. Henry was two decades older than Matilda and as she matured, he educated her in the art of government clearly trusting her judgement when leaving her to rule in his absence as Regent; an extraordinary responsibility for one so young and a tribute to her strength of character and political acumen. He died early and unexpectedly in 1125, leaving Matilda a widow at 23. 

Geoffrey, Count of Anjou

But the royal hand of a princess could not be left long alone and her father quickly found her a suitor, Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, ten years her junior and a pessimist whose motto, “Bad today; worse tomorrow” was carved above the gate to one of his castles.  The political aim of the union was to cement peace between Normandy, Anjou and England but it was a politically unequal decision despite which, the couple managed to form the necessary effective working relationship. This clever precaution proved to be resilient when, within one month of the death of Henry 1, Stephen, one of Matilda’s cousins and a favourite of King Henry, had himself crowned King of England with the blessing of the Pope, and retaliatory action was required.                                                 

Matilda began a vigorous campaign in Normandy to secure her inheritance and demonstrated a fearless energy in achieving her goal. Two months after giving birth to her third son, she led an army to rescue her wounded husband, Geoffrey, who was described by a contemporary as "his wife's stipendiary commander," an indication of where the power in the relationship lay! True to form, it was Matilda who invaded England in 1139, supported by another half-brother, Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester. Within two years, she had captured Stephen and grown closer to her ambition of ruling as Female Lord of the English. For several months in 1141, she enjoyed all the powers of a monarch, issuing coinage, consulting her advisers and appointing loyal men to earldoms and bishoprics. But what had seemed a

Stephen, King of England 1141

fairytale ending to Matilda's story was abruptly reversed as she was preparing for her coronation when a serious  rebellion in London forced her abrupt retreat and capitulation. By the end of that year, 1141, Stephen was back on the throne. Matilda had returned to England, remaining for several more years, controlling a significant swathe of the south west but never regaining her earlier eminence and power. She consequently lived chiefly at her base in Devizes Castle, while vigorously supporting her son's claim to regal power.                                                 

King Henry 11 in 1154
formerly Henry FitzEmpress.
son of Matilda.

 Hopes  were now indeed, increasingly pinned on the next generation although the heir, her half-brother and next in line, was allegedly "more devoted to the bedchamber than to war."  Happily for the family fortunes, and probably for the stable political future of England, Matilda's son, Henry FitzEmpress, was altogether a more impressive character and when he turned 15 and announced his ambitions for the English throne, she decided to renounce her claim and return to Rouen from where she energetically supported his regal claim.  She also acted as his enforcer in Normandy, a significant region of power for the English throne and a possible base for a rival regal claim. Here, the powerful local gentry were frequently reminded that if they did not follow orders, "my mother , the Empress and Lord, will make them happen."  

 After FitzEmpress became Henry 11 of England in 1154, he implicitly acknowledged his mother's extensive political experience by consulting her on an array of problems and possible solutions. He certainly followed her advice to treat his nobles harshly so that, like hawks deprived of food, they would become more obedient. She also warned against frequent public appearances as this kept to a minimum the opportunities for subjects to present those irritating petitions with difficult problems for him to solve.  Hostile contemporary chroniclers accused Matilda of "intolerable indignation" and "insufferable arrogance"; even her friend and confidant, Nicholas of Mont-aux-Malades, described her as "a  tyrant of Norman stock" in the mould of her grandfather, William the Conqueror. At times she was called upon to display the "humble and gentle behaviour proper to a woman." a somewhat over-optimistic entreaty considering her forthright character. Perhaps her tomb epitaph best conveys the twelfth century summary of its opinion of her position: "Great by birth; greater by marriage; greatest in her offspring," though this seems to me to undersell her character and achievements.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design

 The Bezalel Academy was founded as an art movement in 1906 in Jerusalem and is now recognised as Israel's oldest institution of higher education in the field of art and design. Boris Schatz, the 'father of Israeli art', left his position as Head of the Royal Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria to found the Academy and establish an institution that combined education and craftsmanship, merging Eastern and Western cultures by providing places for artists to work and study. Although Jewish art in Mandatory Palestine had a history that reached back to at least the mid-19th century, the commonly-held opinion by 1906 was to dismiss the earlier works as of little value and to laud the importance of Boris Schatz as a pioneer who attempted "to create a Jewish art, indeed, a Palestinian art" in part by the establishment of the Bezalel School. Yona Fischer suggests that Bezalel is, within the historical context of Zionism, a movement that "divides past and future"of an emerging Israel "searching its own definition." 

Bezalel Academy buildings 1913

The Bezalel artists blended varied strands of tradition with innovations in producing paintings and craft objects that invoked Biblical themes, Islamic design and European art traditions such as Art Nouveau, Symbolism and included tradtional Persian and Syrian art. Their efforts were a noble attempt to carve out a distinctive style of Jewish art for the new nation planned to be established in the ancient Jewish homeland. In fact, ultimately, their group's works of art contributed significantly to the creation of a distinctive Israeli national culture. The artists were Zionist immigrants from Europe and the Middle East who had survived  all the psychological and social upheavals inherent in European Jewish lives and, inevitably, their personal experiences became 
interwoven with their art. The artists and designers were European-trained but the craftsmen who actually executed the works, were often members of the Yemenite Jewish community which had a long tradition of craftsmanship in precious metals. Filigree jewellery-making, primarily in silver, was a respected profession among the Yemenite Jewish community with both cultural and religious applications and these craftsmen-silversmiths created pieces by hand using traditional methods.

Bezalel woollen carpet depicting Rachel's tomb

The Bezalel story is inspiring, still after over 120 years. I only recently chanced upon a mention of this hugely important movement about which I knew nothing, and so have looked online for a little more contemporary information. Below are details taken from current publicity and convey an uplifting and joyful message announcing as it does, the Bezalel prime purposes nationally and culturally.

Boris Schatz, founder of Bezalel 1906

"For more than a century,  Bezalel has served as a magnet for people who dare to dream, dare to do. Filled with principles and passions, talent and vision, at the Academy students embark on a demanding quest to acquire the tools and training to hone their talents and perfect their craft. During the course of their  education, they are taught to meet the challenges of today's global society and blaze their own unique trail in tomorrow's world. Bezalel epitomises the essence of Israeli art and design and has been a crucial catalyst in the country's cultural development. Its unique status in Israeli history and society is the foundation for its conviction that educating and training aspiring artists requires endowing them with values and the seeds of responsible citizenship as well as skills.

Jozef Israel self-portrait, given to Schatz

Bezalel is known for its excellence in educating and enriching generations of aspiring artists, designers and architects; and for inspiring original thought, furthering tolerance and for promoting freedom of expression and creative libery that expand cultural horizons and impact conventional beliefs. The Academy encourages its students and faculty to use their distinctive skills and viewpoints to embrace humanistic and human-centred approaches to art and design. Undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in a myriad of disciplines: architecture and urban design; fashion and jewellery; fine arts;glass and ceramics; industrial design; photography and  visual communication. Degree programmes are also offered in theory and policy of the arts and visual culture."

Boris Schatz was a  Lithuanian Jewish artist and sculptor who temporarily lived in Palestine. Schatz was the founder of the Bezalel School and would later be known as the father of the Bezalel School movement in Israeli art. His children, Zahara Schatz and Bezalel Schatz were also artists and Zahara gained recognition internationally.The 1955 Israel Prize for Art was awarded to her in recognition of the important national contributions of the whole Schatz family. After Schatz died, part of his art collection, including a famous self-portrait by Dutch Master, Jozef Israels, given to Schatz by the artist, eventually formed the nucleus of the Israel Museum.

1929 Exhibition poster

Old Bezalel silver filigree pendant with blue stone

 

  

Mid-20th century Bezalel silver pendant

Alliances Do Not Last Forever.

 The following little rumination was written in January of this year and then either just not used or forgotten about so it is very interesting for me to read a few months later. I wrote it early in Trump's second term when his tariff-inclination was at a peak! For excellent,virtually clinical, examination and subseqent judgement of the Trump administration, do share my joy in reading:

Letter From An American by Heather Cox Richardson.

 Although one might have been critical of America from time to time, succumbing to the usual British semi-sneer about the frequent vulgarity and frankly often dumb events and people, STILL, America was always there; speaking its own version of easily understood English [so comforting to the linguistically lazy Brits]; different from us but sort of descended from us and with many ways and customs comfortingly familiar to us. It did not occur to me not to send my eldest, when she was just 12 to stay with American friends in a swap with their daughter of similar age. That same daughter and her family now live and work in California and have greatly appreciated their thoroughly enjoyable lives and careers there. One hears so much of the terrifying gun culture of life there and prays that it avoids one’s nearest and dearest. At the same time, we know life here couldn’t get THAT precarious and potentially hideous, could it?

Trump's second inauguration day. J.D.Vance alongside,
with Melania Trump.
Oct 2024.

When the last political decision anyone here wanted, was made and Trump managed to be voted in for a second term as President, disbelief was high. Although it was not the huge majority consistently claimed by the President’s men, he won, in part thanks to the over-large ego of Joe Biden who clung on too long to his intention to run again despite his obvious ageing. And despite the Democrats who amazingly,  allowed him to stand again But Trump won and we feared the worst. But the imagined worst was nowhere bad enough!

Musk in D.O.G.E. mode.

Trump'a frantic avalanche of legislation and sweeping anti-Constitutional decisions made since his election a few months ago have frightened and outraged many Americans and appalled much of the Western world. He has two loyal lieutenants; J.D. Vance [Vice-President] and Elon Musk, unelected but Trump-selected, as Chief Trouble-shooter and these two have leapt into action; Vance has directed clumsy ignorant insults masquerading as advice to Europe’s leaders, advising that the greatest threat to Western countries came from within those same countries. Musk, Head of the Trump-appointed DOGE [Dept. of Government Efficiency] has recruited bright young men to run around extracting nationally sensitive statistics on population and policy, while incomes to international bodies have been slashed; many

Federal workers told to justify their jobs or lose them.

thousands of workers in ‘industries’ such as the F.B.I. Education, Health, have been summarily sacked without any apparent understanding of the overall effects of these wide-ranging removals; all in the trumpeted drive to cut Government expenditure.  In addition, Trump has been enraged apparently by D.E.I. initiatives which have been summarily cancelled; he has pardoned Jan 6 rioters including those who seriously injured policemen and banned biological men from women’s sports. This welter of changes has amounted to what Bannon calls, ‘flooding the zone’. The idea is that, by promoting a dizzying array of initiatives and announcements, your opponents are wrong-footed, not knowing what to take seriously. It is interesting to note the terminology used; not ‘fellow Americans’ but ‘opponents.’

Trump and Putin

In the meantime, Donald is trying to create a global trade war through widespread use of tariffs [tariffs being one of his ‘favourite’ words.] Outrage is only now starting in America as Trump’s approval ratings begin to plummet in what one hopes will be a landslide. One tariff example will suffice: Sterling Heights, outside of Detroit, is ‘an auto-industry-dominated city’ that could see massive num
bers of jobs lost if the President makes good on his tariff threats to Canada and Mexico. There are no other local employment possibilities of scale available. Most of the population is in some capacity, ‘in the auto industry’. This is a disaster for ordinary workers and certainly, not a good look for Trump!

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Trump has followed up his evident admiration for Putin with a reportedly productive conversation with Vladimir on February 12 resulting in the proclamation that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would start ‘immediately’. Ukrainian membership of NATO was ruled out and Ukraine itself accused of starting the war while Zelinsky was labelled a dictator and accused of avoiding national elections. Neither the Ukrainians nor Nato allies had been consulted prior to these decisions and were evidently not considered to be essential to subsequent discussions. Eventually it was conceded that the Ukrainians should be present in discussions about their existential future, though Russia was not keen on a European presence.

Trump refuses to sign the bipartisan Housing Bill which
offers many benefits and safeguards to would-be buyers.
He wants Congress to pass his Save America Act,
voter I.D legislation, first.

The British population overall sees Trump as a criminal, misogynist, egotist with a hugely inflated self-belief; someone who sees national and international life as a business in which he is engaged in a constant search to profit from losers whom he vilifies. There is no special relationship with the Donald only a small opportunity for the other person to persuade him that his suggestion may be in Trump’s own interest. All of the above is an explanation of why the long, long alliance of the U.K. with the U.S.A. since WW2, beneficial to both, harmonious mostly, constant, reliable and comfortably familiar, has changed. We can no longer have America always there as a trusted friend; Perhaps, an occasional co-conspirator and slightly dodgy neighbour which has unsavoury alliances and relationships with gangster states like Russia where opposing political contenders are pursued and murdered. Aka Alexei Navalny among many.

1940

 

 

Sylvia and Her Parisian Bookshop

 

Sylvia Woodbridge Beach.

Sylvia Beach (14 March 1887 – 5 October 1962), born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World Wars I and II. Beach was born in her father's parsonage in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, on 14 March 1887, the second of three daughters of Sylvester Beach and Eleanor Thomazine Orbison. She had an older sister, Holly, and a younger sister, Cyprian.  Although named Nancy after her grandmother Orbison, she later decided to change her name to Sylvia. Her maternal grandparents were missionaries in India, and her father, a Presbyterian minister, was descended from several generations of clergymen. Beach's education featured sporadic tutoring, but she had no formal education.  When the girls were young, the family lived in Baltimore and in Bridgeton, New Jersey but, in 1901, the family moved to France upon Sylvester Beach's appointment as assistant minister of the American Church in Paris and                                                                               Director of the American Student Centre.

The organ in the American Church in Paris

Beach spent 1902–1905 in Paris, returning to New Jersey in 1906 when her father became minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton though she returned permanently to Paris in 1916 in an effort to escape American puritanism. She made several return trips to Europe, lived for two years in Spain, and worked for the Balkan Commission of the Red Cross. During the last year of the Great War, she was drawn back to Paris to study contemporary French literature. While conducting research at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Beach read in a French literary journal, of a lending library and bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres at 7 rue de l'Odéon, Paris VI. There she was welcomed by the owner who, to her surprise, was a plump, fair-haired young woman, Adrienne Monnier who was wearing a garment that

Adrienne Monnier & Sylvia Beach

looked like a cross between a peasant's dress and a nun's habit, "with a long full skirt … and a sort of tight-fitting velvet waistcoat over a white silk blouse. She was clothed in gray and white like her bookshop" Although Beach was dressed in a Spanish cloak and hat, Monnier said later she knew immediately that she Beach, was American. At that first meeting, Monnier declared, "I like America very much".Beach replied that she liked France very much. Their mutual                                                                                             atttraction was obvious. 

Shakespeare & Company opens.

Beach immediately became a member of Monnier's lending library, where she regularly attended readings by authors such as André Gide, Paul Valéry and Jules Romains. Inspired by the literary life of the Left Bank and by Monnier's efforts to promote innovative writing, she dreamed of starting a branch of Monnier's book shop in New York that would offer contemporary French works to American readers. Since her only capital was US$3,000, which her mother had given her from her savings, she could not afford such a venture in New York. 

However, Paris rents were much cheaper and the exchange rates favorable, so with Monnier's help, she opened an English language bookstore and lending library that she named Shakespeare and Company. Monnier had been among the first women in France to found her own bookstore four years before. Beach's bookstore was located at 8 rue Dupuytren, Paris VI.The shop sign featured a nearly bald, slat-eyed Shakespeare painted by a friend of Monnier's. On either side of the storefront was written, "Lending Library" and "Bookhop", which was thus misspelled initially. Shakespeare and Company quickly attracted French and American readers, including aspiring writers to whom Beach offered hospitality, encouragement, and books. As the franc dropped in value and the favourable exchange rate attracted many Americans to Paris, her book shop flourished and soon needed more space. In May 1921, Shakespeare and Company moved to 12 rue de l'Odéon, just across the street from Monnier's Maison des Amis des Livres. Monnier and Beach also ran two influential literary journals from their shops: Le Navire d'argent and Transition. Their close relationship lasted for 36 years until Monnier's suicide in 1955.

Adrienne Monnier, Sylvia Beach & James Joyce. 1920

In July 1920, Beach met Irish writer James Joyce at a dinner party hosted by French poet André Spire and soon after, Joyce joined her lending library. He had been trying, unsuccessfully, to find a publisher for his manuscript for his masterpiece, Ulysses, and Beach, seeing his frustration, offered to publish it. She hired M. Maurice Darantière, a master printer from Dijon who did not understand English, to oversee the printing. Shakespeare and Company gained considerable fame after it published Ulysses in 1922, which happened partly as a result of Joyce's inability to get an edition printed in English-speaking countries In 1932, Joyce sold the publishing rights to Random House for a $45,000 advance but he did not tell Beach of this decision, nor did he offer her a portion of the funds. When asked about the betrayal, Joyce said, "A baby belongs to its mother, not to the midwife, doesn't it?" In the end, Beach was left near bankruptcy with the debt she had bankrolled to publish Ulysses. 

Shakespeare and Company experienced financial difficulty throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s but remained supported by wealthy friends. In 1936, when Beach thought she would be forced to close her shop, André Gide organized a group of writers into a club called Friends of Shakespeare and Company and subscribers paid 200 francs a year to attend readings at the bookstore. Although subscriptions were limited to a select group of 200 people (the maximum number the store could accommodate), the renown of the French and American authors participating in readings during those two years attracted considerable attention to the store. Beach recalled that by then, "we were so glorious with all these famous writers and all the press we received that we began to do very well in business". Violette Leduc describes meeting Beach and also pays tribute to the ambiance of the shop in her autobiography La Bâtarde. Shakespeare and Company remained open after the Fall of Paris, but by the end of 1941, Beach was forced to close it. 

Beach and Hemingway outside Shakespeare & Co 1940 

During the Nazi invasion of Paris, (1942-45)Beach was watched by the Gestapo for hiding Jewish
friends to aid them in escaping the city. A member of the Gestapo informed her, "You have a black mark against your name on account of your Jewish friends." She was interned for six months during World War II, briefly at the Bois de Boulogne concentration camp,, and then at Vittel until Tudor Wilkinson managed to secure her release in February 1942. Following her release she occasionally assisted an American member of the French Resistance, Drue Leyton, in sheltering allied airmen shot down in France. Beach kept her books hidden in a vacant apartment in the attic at 12 rue de l'Odeon. Ernest Hemingway symbolically "liberated" the shop in person in 1944, but it never re-opened for business.

In 1956, Beach wrote Shakespeare and Company, a memoir of the inter-war years that details the cultural life of Paris at the time. The book contains first-hand observations of James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Valery Larbaud, Thornton Wilder, André Gide, Leon-Paul Fargue, George Antheil, Robert McAlmon, Gertrude Stein, Stephen Vincent Benét, Aleister Crowley, Harry Crosby, Caresse Crosby, John Quinn, Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, and many others. Truly, an impressive list!

George Whitman 1951.

After Monnier's suicide in 1955, Beach had a relationship with Camilla Steinbrugge. In 1959, the Embassy of the United States in Paris hosted an exhibition titled "The Twenties: American Writers and Their Friends, 1920-1930," which featured Shakespeare and Company's letters, photographs, and first editions. Although Beach's income was modest during the last years of her life, she was widely honoured for her publication of Ulysses and her support of aspiring writers during the 1920s. On 16 June 1962, she opened the Martello Tower in Sandycove in Dublin (where the opening scene of Ulysses is set) as a museum. She remained in Paris until her death in late 1962 and is buried in Princeton Cemetery.  

James Joyce Museum in the Martello Tower in Sandycove, Dublin.
Opened by Sylvia Beach 
June 16th 1962.

George Whitman opened a new bookshop in 1951 at a different location in Paris (in the rue de la Bûcherie) originally called Le Mistral, but renamed Shakespeare and Company in 1964 in honour of Sylvia Beach after she died in Oct 1962 Since his death in 2011, it has been run by his daughter Sylvia Whitman.

 

Entrance to the lending library,
Shakespeare & Co. 2011.
Whitman's guiding principle, writ large,
popularised the Roman motto in modern times.