Copy of 1919 portrait photo of Harriet Weaver

Harriet Weaver’s association with Joyce began in 1914 when, as editor of The Egoist, she started publishing A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in serial form. Hearing through Ezra Pound of Joyce’s difficult circumstances, she made the first of a number of anonymous gifts of money to him. By 1924, when she had settled on him a large sum of money which she hoped would provide Joyce with an income for the rest of his life, she had revealed to him the identity of his patron. They first met in London in August 1922. Throughout his life Joyce continually acknowledged his debt of gratitude to his English benefactress and kept her informed of all his plans and progress. At his death she became his literary executor. This photograph of Harriet Weaver, taken in 1919, was sent to Joyce by her at his request for one. The copy shown here was taken from an original kindly lent by Miss Jane Lidderdale, her goddaughter.