James Joyce’s first submitted the manuscript for his short-story collection Dubliners to a publisher in 1905. It was rejected 22 times before it was eventually published in June 1914. Even then, success was a long time coming.

Dubliners had an initial print run of just 1,250. In its first year, the book only sold 379 copies, 120 of which were purchased by Joyce himself – a condition of the book being published at all.

Today, James Joyce is recognised as one of the most influential writers of all time. In 1999 Time magazine name him as one of its 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.