Wolff, Helen, 1906-1994

Helen Wolff (1906-1994), publisher.

Kurt Wolff (1887-1963), publisher and author.

Helen and Kurt Wolff were involved with publishing for most of the 20th century. Kurt Wolff established the Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig in 1913 and Pantheon Casa Editrice in Florence in 1924 and, after immigrating to the U.S. in 1941, Kurt and Helen established Pantheon Books in New York in 1942 and the "Helen and Kurt Wolff Book" imprint with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1961. Kurt Wolff died in an automobile accident in 1963, and Helen Wolff continued at Harcourt until her death in 1994.

Summary information on Kurt and Helen Wolff is available in the standard print and online biographical resources. A biographical sketch of Kurt Wolff is available in the Kurt Wolff Archives (YCGL MSS 3), and a profile of Helen Wolff is available in the August 1982 issue of The New Yorker . More detailed information may be found in Kurt Wolff's Autoren, Bücher, Abenteuer: Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen eines Verlegers (1965), Briefwechsel eines Verlegers, 1911-1963 (1966), and Kurt Wolff: A Portrait in Essays & Letters (1991). The following chronology provides dates for key events and publications: 1887 March 3, Kurt Wolff born in Bonn, Germany to Dr. Leonhard Wolff and Maria Marx 1906 July 27, Helen Mosel born in Ueskueb, Macedonia to Louis Mosel and Josephine Fischhof 1909 Kurt Wolff joins Ernst Rowohlt Verlag 1913 Kurt Wolff establishes Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig 1919 Kurt Wolff Verlag moves to Munich 1924 Kurt Wolff establishes Pantheon Casa Editrice in Florence 1927 Helen Mosel works at Kurt Wolff Verlag 1933 March 28 Kurt Wolff and Helen Mosel marry 1933-35 Live in Nice, France 1935-39 Live on farm outside Florence 1939 Move to Paris 1940 Move to New York 1941 Establish Pantheon Books in New York 1945Publish The Death of Virgil by Hermann Broch 1955Publish Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh 1958 Publish Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak 1959 Move to Locarno, Switzerland 1961Resign from Pantheon Books 1961Launch "A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book" imprint with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1963 Kurt Wolff dies in automobile accident in Germany; Helen Wolff moves back to New York 1994 April 11 Helen Wolff dies