NY: Stein and Day, 1971, pp. Mencken, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Langston Hughes. Her share never exceeded twenty-five per cent, and she never received the credit she deserved for the success of the firm that bore her husbands name. to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Her firm published all the major works of Dashiell Hammett, including Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Glass Key, and The Thin Man, and she introduced the first four books by Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, and The Lady in the Lake. ", You Could Look It Up: The world before and since Wikipedia, Wildes Women: the surprising force behind Oscars fame and success, 'Ted Hughes': A controversial biography shows the poet's darker side. Cerf, Bennett. "Blanche W. Knopf," in The Obituary Book. Their tours of Europe usually lasted three months, and Blanche felt very much at home there. and a little misleading. August 29, 1964, pp. 2023
. In 1918, the Knopfs' only child, Alfred A. Knopf Jr., was born. Fax: (617) 227-5409 The American Scholar, 1987. They write and publish to please the Nazi Government. The Other Knopf - Publishers Weekly The leaping borzoi on an Alfred A. Knopf book is still a reminder of the company's original elegance, creativity and style. [9] According to her biography by Laura Claridge she "legitimized the genre of hard-boiled detective fiction" with authors such as Dashiell Hammet, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. When the work of the psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, became popular and very much sought after, it was Knopf who secured the rights and returned from Europe with his manuscript of Moses and Monotheism. 22 (1992). began scouting for her fledgling publishing house quality . From the start, the Knopfs were noted for high standards of bookmaking. The backroom boys, as Edmund Wilson called them, greatly helped keep the publishing house afloat during the tough times of the 1930s. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/knopf-blanche, "Knopf, Blanche Overall, though, for much of the past century, young writers have regularly dreamed of being published by Alfred A. Knopf. Blanche Wolf Knopf was the president of Alfred A. Knopf Inc., one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the country. Fadiman, Clifton. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. She became the vice president of the company when it was incorporated in 1918. After a few years, she decided that she didnt really care for Alfred, and the job eventually fell into the hands of the Newsweek critic Peter Prescott, who died in 2004, before getting much beyond the note-taking stage. They were also excluded from membership in organizations like the Publishers' Lunch Club and the Book Table that might have helped to enhance their positions. general publishing Her strength, though exercised with a coolness which could be called masculine, is feminine in its fibre, nerve and tenacity., Without knowing or intending it, the Knopfs had stumbled on a very successful publishing formula: an outsized, public personality balanced by a more sensitive and thoughtful one. She was born on July 30, 1894, in New York City, and she was the youngest of two children of Bertha and Julius W. Wolf. As half of a couple whose passion, romance, and livelihood revolved around books, it was her drive and interest that compelled her to diversify the voices of American literature. 23, 72. 31 December 1999. She was honored with the Order of the Southern Cross, and the French government made her Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in 1949, as well as Officer de la Legion d'Honneur in 1960. MAGAZINE Subscribe Sign In Joanna Scutts / April 13, 2016 A Publishing House of Her Own Blanche Knopf built the reputation of the legendary publisher, but her name was left off the masthead.. Born on July 30, 1894, in New York City, Blanche Wolf was the only child born to Julius W. Wolf, a wealthy jeweler, and Bertha Samuels. In the office, Alfred and Blanche vented their unhappiness with each other by quarrelling at editorial meetings. . Their books were bound in bright cloth-covered boards and wrapped in jackets of arresting design; the typography was pleasing to the eye, the paper of exceptional quality. 2023 Cond Nast. Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Chip McGrath Reveals the Truth Behind Blanche and the Borzois By Chip McGrath October 1, 2015 The following is excerpted from a special edition history of Alfred A. Knopf, on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary. Hellman, Geoffrey. Her intellectual interests, flawless French, and sensitivity to emerging literary trends were matched by her personal style and social prowess. Fax: (617) 227-5409 The case made here by biographer Claridge (Emily Post) is that, of the two partners, Blanche led the more interesting life. Blanche Wolf Knopf All along, they were a partnership, even if they thought of themselves as rivals. In 1911, she was 17 when she met Alfred Knopf, an undergraduate at Columbia and the son of a successful advertising executive and consultant, Samuel Knopf. Blanche was more enterprising and more nurturing: she wooed and encouraged writers, and wasnt shy about making suggestions. When Laura Claridge arrives at the offices of Farrar, Straus and Giroux to discuss the April publication of The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire, she. Each of these authors had a significant impact on the development of intellectual thought in America. Encyclopedia.com. She created social as well as working relationships with many of her authors, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, whom she introduced to the non-French public. She then met a young man who liked to talk about books, and they planned to marry and start publishing them. Blanche Knopf dies: 1968: Advertising maven Nina Bourne joins the company, and remains there until her death in 2010, at the age of 93: 1968: Knopf steps down after 50 years at the helm; Robert . She then turned to focus on the writers of Latin America. CEREMONY AMID LILIES Bride is an Expert Golf Player and a Descendant of the Nashes of Nashville, Tenn", "Blanche W. Knopf, 1894-1966 Biographical Sketch", "JWA Presents 'This Day in History' - July 30, 1894, Birth of publisher Blanche Wolf Knopf", "MRS. KNOPF BACK, BITTER ON REICH; Home From Europe, She Asserts Nazis Have Driven Out All the Gifted Authors", "Judith Light Joins HBO Max's 'Julia', Will Star Alongside Sarah Lancashire & David Hyde Pierce In Julia Child Drama", Jewish Virtual Library profile on Blanche Wolf Knopf, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blanche_Knopf&oldid=1165272139, Officier de la Lgion d'honneur in 1960, France, The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire by Laura Claridge, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016, This page was last edited on 14 July 2023, at 03:40. [CDATA[ "In the early days, I commuted, ran a house, had a baby, read manuscripts all night and held open house (Were 5 coming or 30? Its true that using a borzoi as the trademark was Blanches idea, but that was before she owned a pair of them. [13] Knopf helped Carl Van Vechten launch writers of the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Hughes and Nella Larson. [4], Blanche attended the Gardner School for Girls on the Upper East Side of New York City. Knopf, Blanche (1894-1966) | Encyclopedia.com They prided themselves on publishing books that were physically well-made, colorfulalways with the hope that each book would challenge the ideas and imaginations of readers. Though she was known to possess an explosive temper and a tough, war-like style in pursuing her business, she was also said to be one of the most generous and encouraging publishers toward young, gifted, but unknown writers. [9], For her accomplishments in developing and promoting the literature of France, she was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Lgion d'honneur by the French government in 1949, and became an Officier de la Lgion d'honneur in 1960. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/economics-magazines/knopf-blanche, "Knopf, Blanche April 10, 1943, pp. Knopf Inc. published paperbound editions of lesser-known writers, which was less of a financial risk for the publisher but gave the authors exposure. ." NYTimes, June 5, 1966, 86:1, and Newsweek (June 20, 1966), and Publishers Weekly (June 13, 1966). Thus began the tradition of excellent, quality translations for which the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house became renowned. "Impressions of British Publishing in Wartime," in Publishers Weekly. Vol. In Scandinavia According to former employees, Blanche worked at her desk for long hours. [5] Their relationship was built on their mutual interest in books. At the beginning of his career, Alfred moved restlessly from job to job. Let us know. Her Impressions of British Publishing in Wartime was published in Publishers Weekly (December 18, 1943). Blanche Wolf Knopf died in New York City on June 4, 1966. She came from a privileged Jewish family and received a quality education at the Gardner School in New York, which was supplemented by lessons from French and German governesses. The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. That Ho Chi Minh had once been a baker at Bostons Parker House hotel doesnt make the Knopfs 1919 stay there any more riveting. I am essentially losing my life And it was Judith who said, I will be your eyes. But very few people know and knew. He made half a dozen stabs at an autobiography, all of them unpublishable (for all his love of books, he wasnt much of a writer himself), and in the early nineteen-seventies he made Susan Sheehan, a writer for this magazine, his official biographer. In publishing their works, Knopf provided a venue for many writers who had never before received much public attention. She cant do this! She was incredibly obstinate in that way. Jun 17, 2016. In 1921, she became the vice president and director of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and during the following decades, published the works of Sigrid Undset, Thomas Mann, Kahlil Gibran, Knut Hamsun, Mikhail Sholokhov, Angela Thirkell, Elizabeth Bowen, Elinor Wylie, Allan Sollitoe, and Katherine Mansfield. Thats a stretch, but her book is still a long-overdue acknowledgment of the pioneering role Blanche played at a time when women were nearly invisible in the business world. By the time she died, 27 Knopf authors had won the Pulitzer Prize and 16 the Nobel Prize. Much like many other details depicted about these real-life people on the first season of Julia, this fact about Blanche, the wife of literary giant Alfred A. Knopf, is not widely known. Their son complained that it was too late, pointing out that he had never given her recognition in her lifetime.. December 18, 1943, pp. Episode 96: Can We Talk? "Knopf, Blanche Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Some people were surprised when The Maltese Falcon, a detective novel, appeared on The Big Read list. Blanche and Alfred traveled the world seeking new authors. Indeed, only in later pages does Claridge talk a bit about the nitty-gritty of publishing. With the advent of World War II, travelling to Europe was no longer an option for Knopf. Nonetheless, Claridge depicts her less as a businesswoman or literary tastemaker extraordinaire, than as a cosseted, albeit troubled and unhappy socialite who regularly slept around. The Knopf marriage was marked by the same individuality as their business relationship. Obituaries. In 1913, while at Doubleday, Alfred was assigned the job of publicizing Chance, a novel by Joseph Conrad, who was relatively unknown in America. 4, 1992, pp. 4457. Knopf's greatest publishing coup was bringing de Beauvoir's controversial work The Second Sex to Americans during the post-World War II years, when many were wary of radical thought. What Happened on June 4, 1966 - On This Day The logo of the new firm was an elegant borzoi, a long-haired Russian wolfhound. "Album of the Knopfs." 22 (1992). Without those personal qualities and her first-rate intelligence, she might have dismally failed in the highly competitive, male-dominated, publishing world of her day. Retrieved July 01, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/blanche-wolf-knopf. Read Next: Jeff Zucker Not Seeking CNN Acquisition, Says Partner Gerry Cardinale, The CW Scores Four-Season Rights to 50 ACC College Football and Basketball Games From Raycom, ESPN, What SAG-AFTRA Strike Means for Summer Productions, Fall Premieres, Comic-Con and Q2 Earnings, House of the Dragon Can Continue Filming in U.K. Amid SAG-AFTRA Strike Due to Local Union Rules, Disney CEO Bob Iger Says Writers and Actors Are Not Being Realistic With Strikes: Its Very Disturbing to Me, Emmys 2023: The Complete Nominations List, Christopher Nolan Gave Al Pacino an Acting Note. While he collected and drank fine wines, she remained a bourbon drinker. The popularity of Green Mansions also made Blanche's logo, a Bolzoi (Russian Wolfhound), the recognizable "Knopf" symbol. Until the end of her life, she maintained her role as an important figure in shaping literary tastes, bringing new voices from around the world to the American public. Knopf was known for her high level involvement in the company and worked at all phases of publishing. Bennett Cerf From the Archives: Our Obituary of Blanche Wolf Knopf Alfred was always a publisher more than an editor, and considered editors a necessary evil at best. also gained a reputation as a loyal and understanding editor who provided encouragement for writers and worked to ensure them the best financial arrangements possible.
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