Begun by John Ryan, a Dublin artist, Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art, published the work of a broad range of writers, including Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, Anton Chekhov (in translation), Padraic Colum, Anthony Cronin, Aidan Higgins, Pearse Hutchinson, Maria Jolas (in translation), Patrick Kavanagh, who wrote the monthly "Diary," Mary Lavin, Ethel Mannin, Lionel Miskin, Brian O'Nolan, Edward Sheehy, Francis Stuart, Patrick Swift, Arland Ussher, Thomas Woods, and many others. Envoy was the first to publish J.P. Donleavy, Brendan Behan's first short stories and his first poem, and an extract from Samuel Beckett's "Watt, ". Among the distinguished associate editors were Valentin Iremonger, Irish diplomat and poet who served as poetry editor, J.K. Hillman, Michael Huron, and Owen Quinn. In December of 1949 Envoy was inaugurated in response to Irish trade and censorship restrictions which had forced many writers to seek publication outside their homeland. Though the Envoy Publishing Company's goal of publishing books died with the magazine in July, 1951, the short-lived enterprise succeeded, with the lone publication of Valentin Iremonger's prize-winning book of poetry Reservations, and with its lively magazine, in breaching some of the barriers of Irish publication, as well as providing outstanding prose, poetry, criticism, and reviews of the contemporary Irish art scene during its twenty-month existence.
From the description of Envoy, A Review of Literature and Art records, 1949-1951. (Southern Illinois University). WorldCat record id: 214084158
