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The First Appearance of

a Modernist Literary Masterpiece


The Little Review began in Chicago in March 1914 under the editorship of
Margaret Anderson which after a brief sojourn to San Francisco, settled in
Greenwich Village, New York City in 1917 for the duration of its run, the last
issue being published in 1929. It soon became the most influential literary
journal of the era.
Anderson was inspired by magazines created by other strong female literary
figures of the era, most notably Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth.
In 1916 Anderson met and fell in love with the indomitable Jane Heap (left)
whom she asked to co-edit the journal.
In 1915, Anderson and Heap, through
the assistance of European editor Ezra
Pound, learned of a new work in
progress by James Joyce entitled
“Ulysses”. When Anderson first read the
chapter entitled "Proteus," she
exclaimed "This is the most beautiful
thing we'll ever have. We'll print it if it's
the last effort of our lives." In the
Autumn of 1917, Joyce began
submitting typescripts for publication
in The Little Review and the first
episode, "Telemachus," appeared in
the March 1918 issue.
The announcement printed in the previous issue was prophetic:
Owing to the tenuous financial status of the
editors, the paper quality of the surviving
issues is quite poor, essentially of pulp
quality. Surviving issues are quite scarce and
extremely fragile. Complete sets are
uncommon.
The best reference on Joyce in magazines is
A Bibliography of James Joyce
By John J. Slocum and Herbert Cahoon
Greenwood Press, 1971
The following is a roster of appearances and cover images:

April 1918 May 1918 June 1918


Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4
September 1918 October 1918 January 1919
Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 (part 1)
Seized and burned by
Post Office
February/March 1919 April 1919 May 1919
Episode 8 (part 2) Episode 9 (part 1) Episode 10 (part 2)
Seized and burned by
Post Office
June 1919 July 1919 August 1919
Episode 10 (part 1) Episode 10 (part 2) Episode 11(part 1)
September 1919 November 1919 December 1919
Episode 11 (part 2) Episode 12 (part 1) Episode 12 (part 2)
January 1920 March 1920 April 1920
Episode 12 (part 3) Episode 12 (part4) Episode 13 (part 1)
Seized and burned by Post Office
Episode 13 (part 2) Episode 13 (part 3) Episode 14 (part 1)
Through the efforts of the Society for the
The September 1918 issue Suppression of Vice, Anderson and Heap were
contains an interesting tried and convicted for profanity and fined a
testimony to freedom of the nominal but symbolic sum of $100.
press from the new publisher Anderson’s article in this issue described her
reaction (see next two pages)

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