“To Mrs H. G. who Complained That her Visitors Kept Late Hours” (1931)
The manuscript is a loose sheet of unruled rolled paper, watermarked “VERGÉ | SURFIN” around the intertwined letters “CPP”. It is a double-spaced top (original) black ribbon copy.
“To Mrs H. G. who complained that her visitors kept | late hours.”
The manuscript measures 26.9 x 20.9 cm.
The manuscript is a song about Mrs Herbert (Jean) Gorman.
The manuscript is dated by the typist: “10 March 1931”.
The manuscript has been reproduced in black and white photo-facsimile on JJA 1.344 and was published in PSW, p. 139.
Joyce gave this manuscript to Sylvia Beach. The sheet has been repaired with tape, probably by Beach. There is a one-stanza version of this verse in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the University of Texas at Austin, which was published in Peggy Guggenheim, Out of This Century (New York: Dial, 1946), p. 130 and in JJII (p. 632n). There is a note with the manuscript in Sylvia Beach’s hand in blue ink that reads: “at Peggy Guggenheim’s | (play on her husband’s | (Holmes) | and her name)”.