New Directions Publishing Corp.

Variant names
Dates:
Active 1933
Active 2009
Spanish; Castilian, English,

Biographical notes:

New Directions Publishing Corp. was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin, then a Harvard University sophomore. The company was incorporated in 1964 as the New Directions Publishing Corporation and operates from New York City, and its books today are distributed by WW Norton & Company.

From the description of New Directions Publishing Corporation correspondence, 1961-1979. (Southern Illinois University). WorldCat record id: 243702145

The New Directions Publishing Corporation, of New York City and Norfolk, Conn., was founded in 1936 by poet/publisher James Laughlin. New Directions' publishing program focused on poetry, experimental writing, and quality translations of foreign literature, as well as bringing classics back in to print. During the years 1936-1991, New Directions published an annual anthology of avant-garde writing.

From the description of New Directions Publishing Corp. records, ca. 1933-1997. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612683255

The New Directions Publishing Corporation, of New York City and Norfolk, Conn., was founded in 1936 by poet/publisher James Laughlin.

From the description of Manuscripts and proofs of New Directions books, 1937-1997. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 77865644

From the description of New Directions catalogs, circulars, and printed ephemera, 1936-(ongoing). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612244497

James Laughlin (1914-1997) began his publishing career as the literary editor of New Democracy, a magazine devoted to the economic theory Social Credit. Here Laughlin published Modern writers such as Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, and William Carlos Williams in a section of the magazine entitled "New Directions." In 1936, while in his Junior year at Harvard University, Laughlin gathered the best of these pieces and put them together in the first annual anthology, New Directions in Prose and Poetry. Thus marked the beginning of the New Directions Publishing Company.

New Directions' publishing program focused on poetry, experimental writing, and quality translations of foreign literature, as well as bringing classics back into print. They are the main publisher for Ezra Pound, Tennessee Williams, and William Carlos Williams. Other authors whose work they have published include: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Henry Miller, Thomas Merton, Kenneth Patchen, Kenneth Rexroth, Delmore Schwartz, and Dylan Thomas. The company was incorporated in 1964 as the New Directions Publishing Corporation and continues to operate from New York City.

From the guide to the New Directions Publishing Corp. records, ca. 1933-1997., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

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Subjects:

  • American literature
  • Publishers and publishing
  • Authors, American
  • American poetry
  • American poety
  • Authors and publishers
  • Experimental poetry
  • Literary agents
  • Literature, Modern
  • Literature, Modern
  • Literature, Modern

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