A telegram sent by Samuel Beckett to James Joyce on his 49th birthday, 91 years ago today, has been given to the University of Reading by Joyce’s grandson and his wife.
The missive, in which the Waiting for Godot author tells his friend: “Teems of times and happy returns. Beckett”, is part of a major collection of books and documents given by Stephen James Joyce and his wife Solange to the university. The donation, which also includes a photograph of Solange and Stephen James Joyce at their wedding, with an awkward-looking Beckett, who was the best man, was announced to mark the centenary of the publication in Paris of Joyce’s seminal novel Ulysses, as well as the 140th anniversary of Joyce’s birth.
