Records. Series IV., Author and Book Designer Files, 1911-1979 (bulk 1920-1960).

ArchivalResource

Records. Series IV., Author and Book Designer Files, 1911-1979 (bulk 1920-1960).

This series is one of the highlights of the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. archive and one of the few that documents the early history of the firm. The Author Files, which make up the bulk of this series, contain a broad assortment of files relating to authors, most of whom were published by Knopf. The subseries contains early editorial correspondence, manuscripts, and artwork, pertaining generally to firm business. While the files typically contain correspondence with Alfred A. Knopf, other employees whose letters are present in this subseries are Blanche Knopf, William A. Koshland, Raymond Preston, and Harold Strauss. The Author Files are most complete for the 1920s and 1930s. Most files contain correspondence with an author pertaining to a book published by the firm. Covering Knopf's "golden age" of publishing, authors of note include W. J. Cash, A. E. Coppard, Warwick Deeping, Havelock Ellis, Erna Fergusson, Emma Goldman, Dashiell Hammett, William Alexander Percy, and Angela Thirkell. Besides fiction, the subseries documents Knopf's commitment to publishing historical, medical, and sociological texts. While most correspondents are represented by a single file, some long-term Knopf authors, such as James M. Cain, Joseph Hergesheimer, John Hersey, and Carl Van Vechten, has two or more. These multiple files reveal the personal relationship that often developed between an editor and author. The Book Designer Files contain correspondence with four renowned book designers. The files of Elmer Adler, Claude Bragdon, and Bruce Rogers contain correspondence, generally about books they designed for Knopf. However, the bulk of the subseries consists of William A. Dwiggins' correspondence and book designs. Eleven folders cover the years 1927-1954, and include Dwiggins' correspondence with Alfred Knopf and Sidney Jacobs. Another eleven folders of artwork contain notes, sample designs, binding samples, and mock-ups and sketches for books and dust jackets that Dwiggins designed for the firm.

36 boxes (15 linear feet).

Related Entities

There are 48 Entities related to this resource.

O'Connor, Frank, 1903-1966

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kt7jpm (person)

Frank O'Connor was born Michael Francis O'Donovan on September 17, 1903 in Cork city to Mary "Minnie" O'Donovan (née O'Connor) and Michael O'Donovan. Active on the Republican side in the Irish War of Independence and Irish Civil War, O'Connor was interned in Gormanston. After this experience, he turned against republicanism and political violence generally. Following his release from Gormanston, O'Connor worked as a librarian in Sligo, Cork, and Dublin until 1938. Beginning in the mid-1920s, O'C...

Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62g8fd2 (person)

James Weldon Johnson was a publisher, educator, lawyer, composer, artist, diplomat, and civil rights leader. Together with his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson, he wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which came to be known as the "Negro National Anthem", as well as a large number of popular songs for the musical stage of the early twentieth century. Johnson also served as consul of the United States to Venezuela and Nicaragua. He wrote several books and served as editor of the New York Age. ...

Jackson, Robert H. (Robert Houghwout), 1892-1954

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68q6qvq (person)

Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American attorney and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work as Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II. Jackson was born in Spring...

Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tz45t8 (person)

Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book Drawings of the Florentine Painters was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large hand in some of the writings. Berenson was a major figure in the attribution of Old Masters, at a time when these were attracting new interest by American collectors, and his judgments were widely respected in the art world. Recent research has cast doubt on some...

Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69z93hn (person)

Joseph Conrad, a major British writer, was born in Poland and became a British subject in 1887. After a twenty year career at sea, he published his first novel, "Almayer's Folly" (1895), successfully launching his writing career. From the description of Letters-Manuscripts, 1908-1913. (Temple University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 122588887 Novelist and short story writer who was born Jozef Konrad Teodor Korzeniowski in Berdichev, Ukraine, and became a British citizen in...

Undset, Sigrid, 1882-1949

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b28890 (person)

Norwegian novelist, winner of the 1928 Nobel Prize for literature. An outspoken opponent of Nazism, Undset was forced to flee Norway during World War II, and lived in the United States from 1940 to 1945. From the description of Letter : Brooklyn, NY, to Blanche Knopf, New York, NY, 1941 January 15. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122639837 ...

Knopf, Mildred O., 1895-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64x6265 (person)

Samuel, Maurice, 1895-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jw8hkm (person)

Maurice Samuel was an important writer, lecturer and journalist who made many contributions to Jewish studies and Zionism. From the description of Collection, 1915-1936 (Brandeis University Library). WorldCat record id: 272997735 ...

Dilliard, Irving, 1904-2002

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r2132v (person)

Trustee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (earlier name: University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign campus)); editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial page. From the description of Papers, 1937-1991. (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign). WorldCat record id: 28410478 Editorial page editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and champion of victims of injustice, Dilliard served as a sponsor for the 1960 centennial celebration of Jane Addams who devoted her l...

Fairbrother, Nan

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ww8bg9 (person)

Postgate, Raymond, 1896-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m338v3 (person)

Raymond William Postgate (1896-1971) was educated at Oxford University. A conscientious objector, disinherited by his father for his views, he was arrested and court-martialled, but later released due to ill health. From the guide to the Raymond Postgate papers, 1914-1990, (GB 206 Leeds University Library) Born in Cambridge, Great Britain 1896, died in Great Britain 1971; journalist, author on labour and radical history; attracted to Guild socialism; one of the first conscie...

Schlesinger, Arthur M. (Arthur Meier), 1888-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sf31ft (person)

Schlesinger taught history at Harvard. From the description of Papers of Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Sr., 1908-1965 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 76973175 Historian, author. From the description of Reminiscences of Arthur Meier Schlesinger : oral history, 1959. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309724638 Epithet: Jr, US political analyst British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue...

Feltrinelli editore

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6712wpt (corporateBody)

Commager, Henry Steele, 1902-1998

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mc91fv (person)

Historian. From the description of Reminiscences of Henry Steele Commager : oral history, [196-?]. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122619921 From the description of Reminiscences of Henry Steele Commager : oral history, 1979. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309728956 American historian. From the description of The price of Eire's neutrality : printed, 1943. (Unknown). WorldCat record i...

Machen, Arthur, 1863-1947

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r21tn5 (person)

Welsh novelist and essayist, a forerunner of 20th century Gothic science fiction. From the description of Eleusinia / by a former member of H. C. S. 1881. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122598531 From the guide to the Eleusinia, 1881, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections) Machen was a Welsh writer of tales, mystical, romantic, and macabre. From the description of Introduction to Lady Benson's Memoirs : manuscript, 1926. (Peking University Library). WorldCat...

Spark, Muriel.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wf3hz8 (person)

Cash, W. J. 1900-1941.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v992tp (person)

Camus, Albert, 1913-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g73ckw (person)

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was an influential intellectual and writer. He was born and raised in Algeria, but spent most of his life during World War II and afterwards in France. Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. From the description of Albert Camus papers, 1936-1959. (Wesleyan University). WorldCat record id: 299152604 Albert Camus (1913-1960) was a French author, journalist, and philosopher. From the guide to the Albert Camus Letters to Lucet...

Richter, Conrad, 1890-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sx6g9c (person)

Richter, a noted writer of mainly novels of pioneer life in America, was born in Pennsylvania and lived part of his life in New Mexico. He won a Pulitzer Prize for "The Town," the third part of his 1966 trilogy "The Awakening Land." His 1936 novel "Sea of Grass" was made into a motion picture in 1947. From the description of Papers, 1936-1977. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 28629813 American author (chiefly fiction); b. Conrad Michael ...

Hammett, Dashiell, 1894-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w63t9qws (person)

American novelist and short story writer. From the description of Dashiell Hammett Papers, 1923-1974. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 85058436 Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland on May 27, 1894 to a family long in the county. After working as a youth to help support his family, he left home in 1914 and worked as a detective before enlisting in the U.S. Army during Wo...

Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson, 1873-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p26x4z (person)

American novelist. From the description of Letter, 1940 Apr. 25, Richmond, Va., to John W. Garley, Bayonne, N.J. [manuscript]. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647808544 From the description of Letters to James J. Murray [manuscript], 1939-1943. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647812081 American author. From the description of Letter [manuscript]: Richmond, Va., to Dr. Kenneth Wood, 1942 December 14. (University of Virginia). W...

Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kd21ds (person)

Carl Van Vechten was an American novelist, critic, essayist, book collector, and photographer. From the description of Carl Van Vechten collection of papers, 1922-1964. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122455166 From the guide to the Carl Van Vechten collection of papers, 1911-1964, (The New York Public Library. Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.) Carl van Vechten (1880-1964) was an American photographer, writer,...

Hamsun, Knut, 1859-1952

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64b3d3z (person)

Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) was born in Gudbrandsdalen, Norway, and grew up in poverty in Hamarøy in Nordland. From early childhood he was a shoemaker’s apprentice, but was also a road worker, stonemason, junior-level teacher, and so on. He spent some years in America, travelling and working as a tram driver, and published his impressions, chiefly satirical, under the title Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv (1889) [The Intellectual Life of Modern America]. The novel Sult (1890) [Hunger] and even mor...

Romains, Jules, 1885-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gf1dnh (person)

Follett, Wilson, 1887-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mg7p1m (person)

Author. From the description of Modern American usage : typescript, 1966. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 164574047 From the description of Modern American usage : typescript, 1966 [electronic resource]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 760652384 ...

Hand, Learned, 1872-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6988n08 (person)

Attorney and Federal judge. Practiced law, Albany, N.Y., and N.Y.C., 1897-1909; U.S. District judge, Southern District N.Y., 1909-1924; Judge, U.S. Ct. of Appeals, 2d Circuit, 1924-1961; Senior Circuit Judge, 1939-1951. Member and co-founder, American Law Institute. 15 LL.D.'s including Harvard U. 1939, Cambridge (England) 1952. Author of numerous legal and non-legal articles, memorials, etc.; Holmes lecturer, Harvard Law School, 1958. From the description of Papers of Learned Hand, ...

Garnett, Edward, 1868-1937

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jm2bkh (person)

Edward Garnett was an English writer, critic and literary editor. He was married to Constance Garnett. -- B. W. Huebsch was an American publisher. From the description of [Letters to Huebsch] / Edward Garnett. [between 1926 and 1938] (Smith College). WorldCat record id: 231350092 Author. From the description of Letters, 1935. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 36945314 From the description of Letters, 1895-1957. (Indiana University). WorldCat reco...

Hersey, John, 1914-1993

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t43w84 (person)

John Hersey was born in Tientsin, China, the son of YMCA missionaries. Following his graduation from Yale in 1936, he became a prominent American journalist and novelist. From the description of John Hersey papers, ca. 1900-1985 (inclusive). (Yale University). WorldCat record id: 702160854 John Hersey was an author and journalist, best known for socially conscious novels such as A Bell for Adano and Hiroshima. Hersey was born in China to missionary parents, and graduated fro...

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw6dhb (corporateBody)

Weinstock was an executive editor at Knopf. From the description of Correspondence with Adolf Klarmann, 1945. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155862789 American publishing house. From the description of Records. Series VIII., London Office Files, 1910-1957 (bulk 1928-1940). (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 122617133 From the description of Records, 1873-1996 (bul...

Albert Bonniers forlag.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rn83rb (corporateBody)

Goldman, Emma, 1869-1940

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x63kt6 (person)

Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was an anarchist, feminist, author, editor, and lecturer on politics, literature and the arts. She was born in Lithuania and died in Canada. Her lectures and publications attracted attention throughout the U.S. and Europe. She was associated with the anarchist journal Mother Earth from 1906 to 1917 and was imprisoned for publicly advocating birth control in 1916 and pacifism in 1917. In 1919 she was deported to Russia but had to leave because of her criticism of the Bols...

Tannenbaum, Frank, 1893-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p278pn (person)

Director of University Seminars, professor of Latin American history at Columbia University. From the description of Papers, 1915-1969. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309772261 BIOGHIST REQUIRED Director of University Seminars, professor of Latin American history at Columbia University. From the guide to the Frank Tannenbaum Papers, 1915-1969, (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, ) ...

Ambler, Eric, 1909-1998

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x92nnf (person)

English novelist and screenwriter; d. 1998; with Charles Rodda wrote under pseudonym Eliot Reed. From the description of Eric Ambler collection, 1940-1998. (Boston University). WorldCat record id: 70976500 ...

Street, Julian, 1897-1947.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mk770t (person)

Langer, William L. (William Leonard), 1896-1977

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vx1294 (person)

William L. Langer was born in Boston in March 1896. His early education concentrated on foreign languages, but he studied history, in which he ultimately obtained his MA and Ph. D. from Harvard. He joined the faculty there in 1927, obtaining a reputation in the field of diplomatic history. In a leave status from Harvard, he served as Deputy Chief, then Chief, of the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II, and was appointed an assistant to the S...

Schuman, Frederick L. (Frederick Lewis), 1904-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cn7xff (person)

Pick, Robert, 1898-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xd1vdf (person)

Pick (1898-1978) was an Austrian-born novelist, editor, and translator. From the description of Compositions, ca.1937-1938. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 80232464 From the description of Robert Pick papers, 1915-1977. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612370333 From the guide to the Compositions, ca. 1937-1938., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University) From the guide to the Robert Pick papers, 1915-1977., (Houghton...

Lewis, Oscar, 1893-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cr5v59 (person)

San Francisco born author and historian of the West. From the description of Oscar Lewis correspondence : additions, 1931-1959. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 26872328 American author. From the description of Correspondence with Caroline Wenzel : TLS, 1938-1957. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 122647609 Biographical Information Oscar Lewis (1893-199...

O'Brien, Justin, 1906-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m913qj (person)

Professor of French at Columbia University and biographer and translator of André Gide. From the description of Papers, 1925-1968. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122482716 ...

Hughes, Langston, 1902-1967

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rn37qn (person)

Poet, author, playwright, songwriter. From the guide to the Langston Hughes collection, [microform], 1926-1967, (The New York Public Library. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.) From the description of Langston Hughes collection, 1926-1967. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 144652168 Langson Hughes: African-American poet and writer, author of Weary Blue (1926), The Big Sea (1940), and other works. ...

Beerbohm, Max, Sir, 1872-1956

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j104wf (person)

Beerbohm married Florence Kahn (1876-1951), an American actress, on May 4, 1910. From the description of Max Beerbohm letters to Florence Kahn, 1904-1948 (bulk 1904-1909). (Princeton University Library). WorldCat record id: 122418146 B. 1872 d. 1956. From the description of Max Beerbohm artist file. (Whitney Museum of American Art). WorldCat record id: 228432818 Beerbohm was a British author and caricaturist. Turner was a British author. From...

Thirkell, Angela, 1890-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69c753g (person)

Angela Mackail Thirkell, English novelist. From the description of Angela Mackail Thirkell collection, 1947-1960. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 78159902 From the description of Angela Mackail Thirkell collection, 1944-2003. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702152152 Author. From the description of Note [manuscript]. 1957. (Libraries Australia). WorldCat record id: 225829742 ...

Galsworthy, John, 1867-1933

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6th8m55 (person)

Novelist. From the description of Letters, 1900-1932. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 708580518 From the description of Papers, 1925-1933. (Indiana University). WorldCat record id: 708580524 John Galsworthy was an English dramatist and novelist. Educated as a barrister at Harrow and New College, Oxford, he instead decided to travel, attending to his family's shipping business abroad, and then began writing. His first book, From the Four Winds, was a collec...

Dwiggins, W.A. (William Addison), 1880-1956

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xg9w97 (person)

W. A. Dwiggins was a calligrapher, type designer and illustrator. Forthe first two decades of the twentieth century he supplied art work to Boston advertisers. Henry Watson Kent was the first librarian of the Grolier Club (a New York City bibliophile society). For many years Kent served as secretary to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he set the standard for fine institutional printing. He was also an authority on prints. From the description of ALS: Boston, to Henry Watson Kent...

Hillyer, Robert, 1895-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64j0czp (person)

Robert Hillyer was born in East Orange and he taught English and rhetoric at Harvard for several decades. In 1934 he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for "The Collected Verse of Robert Hillyer." From the description of Correspondence-Manuscripts, 1937-1943. (Temple University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 727944299 Hillyer graduated from Harvard in 1917 and taught English at Harvard. From the description of Papers of Robert Silliman Hillyer, 1940-1945 (inclusi...

Menninger, Karl A. (Karl Augustus), 1893-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6474bkr (person)

Noted psychiatrist, co-founder of the Menninger Clinic (Topeka, Kan.), author; of Topeka. From the description of Karl A. Menninger papers, [not after 1930-ca. 1963]. (Kansas State Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 692811215 Psychiatrist and author. Died 1990. From the description of Karl A. Menninger correspondence, 1958. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70984319 ...

Hergesheimer, Joseph, 1880-1954

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s1846p (person)

Born February 15, 1880 in Philadelphia, Joseph Hergesheimer was the son of Joseph and Helen MacKellar Hergesheimer. He grew up in a stable, middle-class, suburban family. His father, a cartographer, worked for the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. After studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Hergesheimer traveled to Europe on money inherited from his grandfather, studying and painting in Florence and Venice. By 1907, when he returned to the United States and married Dorothy He...

Brooks, Walter R., 1886-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68w3jbh (person)