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Letters to Thomas and Adele Seltzer
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Author
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D.H. Lawrence. Gerald M. Lacy, ed.
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Publisher
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Black Sparrow
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Format
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paperback
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Product Dimensions
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9
x
5.9
x
0.75
inches
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ISBN
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9780876852255
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Pages/Publication Date
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284/1976
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Daedalus Item Code
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21568
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List Price:
$15.95
Sale Price:
$4.98
You Save:
$10.97
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Description
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From 1919 to 1926, Thomas Seltzer was one of New York City's most influential small publishers, a compact engine of the coming modern movement. Born in Russia in 1875, he was a proponent of progressive politics and experimental writing, founding editor of The Masses, and the first editor in chief of the Modern Library. At Thomas Seltzer Inc. he translated Tolstoy and Gorky, edited Chekhov and Turgenev, and published Henry James and Stefan Zweig. Most importantly, he championed D.H. Lawrence at a crucial period in his literary development, publishing the first U.S. editions of The Rainbow, Women in Love, and Sons and Lovers. As evidenced in this collection of 135 letters, edited and introduced by Gerald Lacy and illustrated with captioned black and white photos throughout, Lawrence trusted Seltzer, enjoyed his intelligence and can-do spirit, and became warm friends to both him and his wife Adele, who was very much a partner in Seltzer's business. There is much here about Lawrence's reading ("Ulysses wearied me: so like a schoolmaster with dirt & stuff in his head: sometimes good though: but too mental") and about Mexico and the Mexican people ("Mazatlan is very like the South Seas Isles in quality, as remote & soft & sensuous ... and the natives very like islanders ... the Pacific blue-black in the eyes & hair, fathomless, timeless"). But these are personal letters only in the margins: most are strictly business, artist to publisher, and concerned with the content, marketing, and design of Lawrence's books. It was a beautiful partnership at least until 1924, when Seltzer was dragged before the courts for publishing Arthur Schnitzler's sexually candid Casanova's Homecoming. Lawrence's letters to Seltzer form an unusual portrait of both men and a specific period in American publishing. "When D.H. Lawrence wrote that God created Seltzer a 'little publisher,' he was being critical of Seltzer's pretensions but also suggesting, by implication, the value of littleness which is to say, the values of personal taste and judgment. Seltzer's career stands as an instructive illustration of the individual element in publishing in the 1920s, and of the strengths and weaknesses of being little."—G. Thomas Tanselle
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