Ulysses was originally published in installments in an American journal called Little Review, but it's printing was halted when a legal case was brought against it's publishers. They were tried and convicted of publishing obscenity and were barred from publishing anymore installments. A complete edition of Ulysses was eventually published in Paris 1922. The ban in the United States was not lifted until 1933.2

“By the time prosecution for obscenity started against Ulysses, twenty-three installments, comprising almost half the novel, had already appeared between March 1918 and December 1920. These installments included the first thirteen episodes and art of the fourteenth. Four of the installments were seized by the United States Post Office: ‘Lestrygonians’ in January 1919; ‘Scylla and Charybdis’ in May 1919; ‘Cyclops’ in January 1920; and, finally, the ‘Nausicaa’ issue of July-August 1920. Thereafter, the situation was clearly difficult for the publication of Ulysses in the United States as, according to its laws, a publication found to be "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" fell under Section 480 of Postal Laws and Regulations of 1913 (Section 211 ofthe Criminal Code ofthe U.S.)”2

1Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1961.

2 Casado, Carmelo Medina. “Legal Prudery: The Case of ‘Ulysses.’” Journal of Modern Literature 26, no. 1 (2002): 90–98. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3831652.