The Gotham Book Mart, Modernity and Materialism

In 2008, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries was gifted the contents of the Gotham Book Mart (GBM), the iconic New York City Modernist book store founded in 1920 by Frances Steloff. In 2007, Andreas Brown, President of the GBM, filed for bankruptcy and the store and its contents were acquired by Leonard Lauder and his business partner Eduardo Schwartz. “Never look a gift horse in the mouth” is the old adage. In the case of the GBM, the gift comprised 3,800 boxes, 200,000 books and periodicals, and 150 linear feet of manuscripts. From the curatorial perspective, the GBM collection has proven to be challenging to say the least. Processing the collection has been a noble feat involving many hands. During the height of its operation during the middle decades of the twentieth century, the GBM, located in midtown Manhattan, was acknowledged as the primary gateway for the dissemination of European (French, Italian and German) avant-garde literary magazines and imprints. From a history of material texts point of view, what does the importation and sale of avant-garde literature and art mean? The purpose of my talk is to discuss the “materiality” of the Gotham Book Mart from 1920 to 1950.

Please note that due to space constraints, this lecture is open only to RBS participants.

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