The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses (77 page)

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“I think there’s something”
and
“Aha!”
and
“Oh, for God’s sake”
and
“I
demand
”:
Cerf,
At Random
, pp. 92–93. My italics on “
demand
” and exclamation after “book!”
clearly listed the
Bremen
:
Cerf to Paul Léon, April 19, 1932,
UvU
, p. 119.
bulging with papers
:
The original seized copy is at the Columbia’s Rare Books & Manuscripts library. For a list of enclosures, see
UvU
, p. 131.
“Only a casual glance”
:
Heymoolen
v
.
United States
, T.D. 42907, qtd. in
UvU
, p. 144.
“forfeiture, confiscation”
:
H. C. Stewart, Asst. Collector, to Lindey, May 24, 1932,
UvU
, p. 149.
less than half
and
send scholarly books:
Lindey to Ernst, June 14, 1932,
UvU
, p. 154.
“they want everything”
:
Ulysses
, p. 621 (18: 582–95).
“a literary masterpiece”
and
George Medalie:
Coleman paraphrased in Lindey to Ernst, July 23, 1932,
UvU
, p. 157.
“the only way”
:
Coleman paraphrased in Lindey to Ernst, July 30, 1932,
UvU
, p. 157.
Republican nominee
:
“George Zerdin Medalie,”
Encyclopaedia Judaica
., ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007).
foolish the previous year
:
Medalie paraphrased in Ernst to Lindey, Aug. 12, 1932,
UvU
, p. 158.
needed to see them all
:
Ernst to Lindey, Sept. 27, 1932,
UvU
, p. 160. That Medalie is stalling is my speculation.
taking
Ulysses
to court
:
Ernst to Cerf, Nov. 11, 1932,
UvU
, p. 164.
as soon as possible
:
Cerf to Léon, April 19, 1932,
UvU
, p. 119.
flooded with questions
:
Lindey to Ernst, Sept. 20, 1932,
UvU
, p. 159.
Warner Brothers
:
Cerf to Léon, Oct. 11, 1932,
UvU
, pp. 161–2.
that summer
:
Ibid., April 19, 1932, p. 119.
“some time between now and March”
:
Ernst to Cerf, Nov. 11, 1932,
UvU
, p. 164.
interest would wane
:
Cerf paraphrased in Lindey to Ernst, Sept. 20, 1932,
UvU
, p. 159.
Coleman might insist
:
Ernst to Cerf, Nov. 11, 1932,
UvU
, p. 164.
performance of purity
:
Ernst,
To the Pure
, pp. 5–9.
a signed copy
:
Ernst sent Woolsey a signed copy of
To the Pure
two days after the
Married Love
decision. See Ernst to Woolsey, April 8, 1931, Ernst Papers, Box 393.4.
Oxford English Dictionary
:
See
United States
v
.
One Obscene Book Entitled “Married Love
,” 48 F. 2d 821, and
United States
v.
One Book, Entitled “Contraception
,” 51 F. 2d 525 (1931).
“out of the question for months”
:
Ernst to Lindey, March 20, 1933,
UvU
, p. 175.
generally unfavorable
:
Lindey to Ernst, April 20, 1933,
UvU
, p. 177.
“technical reasons”
:
Lindey to Cerf, May 24, 1933,
UvU
, p. 184.
wasn’t the first time
:
Lindey to Ernst, June 14, 1932,
UvU
, p. 154.
“It was learned yesterday”
:
“Ban Upon ‘Ulysses’ to Be Fought Again,”
NYT
, June 24, 1933, qtd. in
UvU
, p. 204.
written it himself
:
Ernst, “Reflections on
Ulysses
Trial and Censorship,” reprinted
UvU
, p. 47; Roger Baldwin to Ernst, Nov. 1 and Nov. 11, 1929, Ernst Papers, Box 143.16.
Back in February
:
Frances Steloff to SB, Feb. 11, 1933, SBP, Box 129 Folder 2.
“We have come to realize”
:
Lindey to H. C. Stewart, June 1, 1933,
UvU
, p. 189, Lindey’s italics.
Coleman felt ambushed
:
Lindey to Ernst, June 30, 1933,
UvU
, p. 207. That Coleman found out from the
NYT
article is my speculation.
Three days later, Coleman’s office
:
Lindey to Ernst, June 27, 1933,
UvU
, p. 207.
“strait-laced Catholic”
:
Lindey to Ernst, June 6, 1933,
UvU
, p. 202.
impatient Judge Coleman
and
recovering from pneumonia
and
August 22:
Lindey to Ernst, July 25, 1933,
UvU
, p. 213.
Pope had inadvertently blessed
:
SBLG
, p. 338.
“a notorious pirate”
and
“Can we write him”:
Cerf to Ernst, Oct. 20, 1932,
UvU
, p. 163. The pirate in question was Joseph Meyers, not Samuel Roth.
“
Please send me
”
:
Black to Cerf, Sept. 26, 1933, Cerf Papers, Box 3.
“
Dear Mr. Black
”
:
Cerf to Black, Sept. 29, 1933, Cerf Papers, Box 3.
He wrote back
:
Black to Cerf, Sept. 26, 1933, Cerf Papers, Box 3.
“There is a growing”
:
Cerf to Black, Oct. 12, 1933, Cerf Papers, Box 3.
“Also I can assure”
:
Black to Cerf Oct. 25, 1933, Cerf Papers, Box 3.
26.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. ONE BOOK CALLED “ULYSSES”
lumber up
and
wore a tie:
Various Woolsey details are taken from Woolsey family photographs, home movies and unpublished documents provided by John Woolsey III. Library details are taken from my visit to Petersham, where the library still stands.
picking blueberries
and
town hall of Prescott
: Forrest Davis, “Ulysses,”
New York World-Telegram
, Dec. 13, 1933, qtd.
UvU
, p. 342.
considered it hypocritical
and
bottle of sherry:
Jack Alexander, “Federal Judge,” unpublished Woolsey profile, ca. 1938, p. 6.
longest criminal court case
: “Press: A Welcome to
Ulysses
,”
Time
, Dec. 18, 1933.
ninety-eight witnesses
and
alumni association:
“109-Day Trial,”
Time
, July 17, 1933.
“just about the hardest”
:
John Woolsey qtd. in “Talk of the Town,”
New Yorker
, Jan. 8, 1944.
first few chapters
:
Nicholas Atlas to Ernst, Oct. 6, 1933,
UvU
, p. 233.
trove of supplementary
and
already owned:
Lindey to Woolsey, Sept. 12, 1933,
UvU
, p. 226.
legal titles
and
poetry and fiction:
Observed at Woolsey’s Petersham library.
Samuel Johnson
:
Davis, “Ulysses,” reprinted in
UvU
, p. 343.
read them all
:
“Talk of the Town,”
New Yorker
, Jan. 8, 1944.
He collected
:
“A Welcome to
Ulysses
,”
Time
, Dec. 18, 1933.
first New World ancestor
:
Davis, “Ulysses,” reprinted in
UvU
, p. 341; Alexander, “Federal Judge,” p. 6.
Yale since 1705
:
Alexander, “Federal Judge,” p. 7.
He was the descendant
:
John Woolsey II, “Family History: The Woolseys,” n.d., unpublished; John M. Woolsey file, Yale College Alumni Records.
“The God that holds you”
:
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God” (1741).
“seared his soul”
and
“the most precious”:
“Ulysses Case Reaches Court after Ten Years,”
New York Herald-Tribune
, Nov. 26, 1933, reprinted in
UvU
, p. 286.
“it would be just those”
:
U.S
.
v.
Kennerley
, 209 F. 119 (1913).
“Stately, plump”
:
Ulysses
, p. 3 (1: 1).
“What did each do”
:
Ibid., p. 573 (15: 1032–9).
“yes when I lit”
:
Ibid., p. 611 (18: 143–57). The 1922 edition mistakenly moved the first two lines of this quotation (“yes when I lit” until “was going to”) to the following page. I quote the corrected Gabler edition.
“Ill put on my best”
:
Ibid., p. 641 (18: 1508–16).
dark X’s like targets
:
See the seized copy of
Ulysses
, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia Univ., p. 733.
several times
:
United States v
.
One Book Called “Ulysses,”
5 F.Supp. 182 (1933).
journalistic exposé
:
Alexander, “Federal Judge,” p. 8.
filled to capacity

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