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34-640: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ( / k n ɒ p f / ) is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in addition to leading American literary trends. It was acquired by Random House in 1960, and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group division of Penguin Random House which

68-411: A Novelette, and Ten Other Stories . During World War I these books were cheap to obtain and helped establish Knopf as an American firm publishing European works. Their first bestseller was a new edition of Green Mansions , a novel by W. H. Hudson which went through nine printings by 1919 and sold over 20,000 copies. Their first original American novel, The Three Black Pennys by Joseph Hergesheimer ,

102-536: A career that included working with John Updike and Anne Tyler . Pat Knopf left his parents' publishing company in 1959 to launch his own, Atheneum Publishers , with two other partners. The story made the front page of The New York Times . In a 1957 advertisement in The Atlantic Monthly , Alfred A. Knopf published the Borzoi Credo. The credo includes a list of what Knopf's beliefs for publishing including

136-419: A failure when he quipped that Nathan "has forbidden the production of the play henceforth in any American city save Chicago, in which city anyone who chooses may perform it without payment of royalties." Walter Winchell opened his column once in 1937 with a reference to Nathan as "a tough critic." The George Jean Nathan Award , an honor in dramatic criticism, is named after him. Nathan was also inducted into

170-604: A highly influential editor. Knopf is credited with designing the Borzoi , a Russian wolfhound imprint marking Knopf titles. She became the company's vice president when it was incorporated in 1918. She often clashed with Alfred's father, Sam Knopf, who was named Treasurer when the firm was incorporated. Knopf became president of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1957 when Alfred Knopf became the chairman. Knopf frequently traveled to Europe and Latin America to meet foreign authors and publishers. She

204-517: A millinery business (which he divested before it went bankrupt), and later, he owned the second-largest children's hat company in the country. Her mother, Bertha, was the daughter of Lehman Samuels, who co-owned Samuels Brothers, which was at one point the largest cattle exporter in America. Blanche attended the Gardner School for Girls on the Upper East Side of New York City. In 1911, she

238-476: Is a Russian wolfhound or Borzoi . Blanche Knopf suggested the Borzoi for the logo to imply motion and the logo was used on both the spine and the title page of their books. Blanche Knopf Blanche Wolf Knopf (July 30, 1894 – June 4, 1966) was an American book publisher who was the president of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. , and wife of Alfred A. Knopf Sr. , with whom she established the firm in 1915. She traveled

272-450: Is a sister imprint of Random House. In October 2012, Bertelsmann entered into talks with rival conglomerate Pearson plc , over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group . The merger was completed on 1 July 2013 and the new company is Penguin Random House . Bertelsmann owned 53% of the joint venture while Pearson owned 47%. At the time of

306-489: Is credited with recruiting Sigmund Freud , Albert Camus , André Gide , Jean-Paul Sartre , Simone de Beauvoir , Ilya Ehrenburg , Mikhail Sholokhov , Thomas Mann , and Gilberto Freyre , striking deals to publish translations of their works in the United States. In 1936, Knopf returned from Europe concerned about the plight of German publishers and authors driven out of Germany because of Nazi persecution. Knopf told

340-511: Is owned by the German conglomerate Bertelsmann . The Knopf publishing house is associated with the borzoi logo in its colophon , which was designed by co-founder Blanche Knopf in 1925. Knopf was founded in 1915 by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. along with Blanche Knopf , on a $ 5,000 advance from his father, Samuel Knopf. The first office was located in New York's Candler Building . The publishing house

374-535: The Good Neighbor policy , Blanche Knopf visited South America in 1942, so the firm could start producing texts from there. She was one of the first publishers to visit Europe after World War II. Her trips, and those of other editors, brought in new writers from Europe, South America, and Asia. Alfred traveled to Brazil in 1961, which spurred a corresponding interest on his part in South America. Penn Publishing Company

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408-591: The St. Regis Hotel in New York. Their first home, which they called Sans Souci (meaning carefree), was in Hartsdale , New York. Their son, Alfred A. Knopf Jr. , known as "Pat", was born on June 17, 1918. After Pat's birth, Blanche and Alfred moved back to Manhattan. Knopf launched Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. with Alfred Knopf in New York City in 1915. She learned the mechanics of printing and publishing and went on to become

442-573: The Knopfs suggested publishing a collection of her short stories, Youth and the Bright Medusa , in 1920. Cather was pleased with the results and the advertisement of the book in The New Republic and would go on to publish sixteen books with Knopf, including their first Pulitzer Prize winner, One of Ours . Before they had married, Alfred had promised Blanche that they would be equal partners in

476-610: The Type", which describes the history of the typeface used for the book. In addition, Knopf books date the year of the book's current printing on the title page. Knopf published textbooks until 1988, when Random House's schools and colleges division was sold to McGraw Hill . In 1991, Knopf revived the " Everyman's Library " series, originally published in England in the early 20th century. This series consists of classics of world literature in affordable hardcover editions. The series has grown over

510-2171: The acquisition the combined companies controlled 25% of the book business, with more than 10,000 employees and 250 independent publishing imprints and with about $ 3.9 billion in annual revenues. The move to consolidate was to provide leverage against Amazon.com and battle the shrinking state of bookstores . In 2015, Knopf celebrated its 100th anniversary by publishing a commemorative book, Alfred A. Knopf, 1915–2015: A Century of Publishing. While there have been many notable editors at Knopf there have only been four editors-in-chief: Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. , Robert Gottlieb , Sonny Mehta (who died in 2019) and Jordan Pavlin. Other influential editors at Knopf included Harold Strauss (Japanese literature), Herbert Weinstock (biography of musical composers), Judith Jones (translations, The Diary of Anne Frank, culinary texts), Peter Mendelsund (art director and book cover designer) as well as Bobbie Bristol, Angus Cameron , Ann Close, Charles Elliott, Gary Fisketjon , Lee Goerner, Ashbel Green , Carol Brown Janeway , Michael Magzis, Anne McCormick, Nancy Nicholas, Daniel Okrent , Regina Ryan, Sophie Wilkins, and Victoria Wilson . Knopf also employed literary scouts to good advantage. Alfred A. Knopf has published books by many notable authors, including John Banville , Carl Bernstein , Elizabeth Bowen , Frederick Buechner , Albert Camus , Robert Caro , Willa Cather , John Cheever , Julia Child , Bill Clinton , Michael Crichton , Miguel Covarrubias , Don DeLillo , Joan Didion , Bret Easton Ellis , James Ellroy , Martin Gardner , Kahlil Gibran , Lee H. Hamilton , Kazuo Ishiguro , John Keegan , Nella Larsen , John le Carré , Jack London , Gabriel García Márquez , Cormac McCarthy , Toni Morrison , Alice Munro , Haruki Murakami , Cynthia Ozick , Christopher Paolini , Edgar Allan Poe , Ezra Pound , Anne Rice , Dorothy Richardson , Stephen M. Silverman , Oswald Spengler , Susan Swan , Donna Tartt , Barbara W. Tuchman , Anne Tyler , John Updike , Andrew Vachss , James D. Watson , and Elinor Wylie . The logo for Knopf

544-491: The company in 1934, and worked with the firm for more than fifty years, rising to take the positions of president and chairman of the board. Blanche became president in 1957 when Alfred became chairman of the board, and worked steadily for the firm until her death in 1966. Alfred Knopf retired in 1972, becoming chairman emeritus of the firm until his death in 1984. Alfred Knopf also had a summer home in Purchase, New York . Following

578-571: The genre of hard-boiled detective fiction" with authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald ." Knopf was also responsible for acquiring William Shirer 's Berlin Diary , John Hersey 's Hiroshima and works by Edward R. Murrow . Knopf started to lose her vision in her later years and, by the 1960s, was virtually blind. She died unexpectedly on June 4, 1966, in her sleep at her apartment in New York. For her accomplishments in developing and promoting French literature , Knopf

612-520: The late 1920s and lasting almost a decade. Gish repeatedly refused his proposals of marriage. Nathan eventually married a considerably younger stage actress, Julie Haydon , in 1955. Nathan died in New York City in 1958, aged 76. He wrote only one play, the one-act titled The Eternal Mystery, which premiered in 1913 at the Princess Theatre in New York. Owen Hatteras referenced the play as

646-500: The life of Julia Child , Knopf is portrayed by Judith Light . George Jean Nathan Nathan was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana , on February 14, 1882, the son of Ella (Nirdlinger) and Charles Naret Nathan. He graduated from Cornell University in 1904. There, he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society and an editor of The Cornell Daily Sun . There is some evidence that Nathan

680-516: The next year and keep doubling becoming one of the firm's most successful books. In 1965 the book sold 240,000 copies. Approaching its 100 year anniversary in 2023, The Prophet has been translated into over 100 languages and has never gone out of print for Knopf. In the 1920s, Knopf sometimes withdrew or censored their books when threatened by John Sumner , such as Floyd Dell 's Janet March or George Egerton 's 1899 translation of Hunger . Samuel Knopf died in 1932. William A. Koshland joined

714-416: The publishing company, but it was clear by the company's fifth anniversary that this was not to be the case. Knopf published a celebratory fifth-anniversary book in which Alfred was the focus of anecdotes by authors and Blanche's name was only mentioned once to note that "Mrs. Knopf" had found a manuscript. This despite ample evidence from authors and others that Blanche was in fact the soul of the company. This

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748-562: The reporter: "There's not a German writer left in Germany who is worth thinking about. The gifted writers and enterprising publishers who had any independence have all left Germany. Only Nazi writers and publishers remain. They write and publish to please the Nazi Government." Thomas Mann called Blanche Knopf "the soul of the firm". Knopf is credited for advancing the careers of numerous authors, serving as an adviser while agreeing to publish

782-759: The statement that he never published an unworthy book. Among a list of beliefs listed is the final one—"I believe that magazines, movies, television, and radio will never replace good books." In 1960, Random House acquired Alfred A. Knopf. It is believed that the decision to sell was prompted by Alfred A. Knopf Jr. , leaving Knopf to found his own book company, Atheneum Books , in 1959. Since its founding, Knopf has paid close attention to design and typography , employing notable designers and typographers including William Addison Dwiggins , Harry Ford, Steven Heller , Chip Kidd , Lorraine Louie , Peter Mendelsund , Bruce Rogers , Rudolf Ruzicka , and Beatrice Warde . Knopf books conclude with an unnumbered page titled "A Note on

816-484: The streets of the financial and theatre districts dressed in artist costumes with sandwich boards . The placards had a copy of the book for browsing and directed interested buyers to local book shops. The unique look of their books along with their expertise in advertising their authors drew Willa Cather to leave her previous publisher Houghton Mifflin to join Alfred A. Knopf. As she was still under contract for her novels,

850-698: The work of several influential authors. By the time she died, 27 Knopf authors had won the Pulitzer Prize and 16 the Nobel Prize . Knopf also worked closely with many American writers, including John Updike , Carl Van Vechten , Willa Cather , H.L. Mencken , Raymond Chandler , Dashiell Hammett and Langston Hughes . Knopf helped Carl Van Vechten launch writers of the Harlem Renaissance , among whom were Langston Hughes and Nella Larson . According to her biography by Laura Claridge , Knopf "legitimized

884-599: The world seeking new authors and was especially influential in the publication of European and Latin American literature in the United States. Blanche Wolf was born July 30, 1894, on the Upper West Side of New York City to a Jewish family; her parents were Julius and Bertha (née Samuels) Wolf. Blanche told others that Julius had been a jeweler in Vienna , but he had been a day laborer in Bavaria. After coming to America, he co-owned

918-579: The years to include lines of Children's Classics and Pocket Poets . Random House was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998. In late 2008 and early 2009, the Knopf Publishing Group merged with Doubleday to form the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Random House has been owned since its 2013 merger of Penguin Group by Penguin Random House , a joint venture between Bertelsmann (53%) and Pearson PLC (47%). Many of Knopf's hardcover books are published later as Vintage paperbacks . Vintage Books

952-413: Was Jewish and sought (successfully) to conceal it. Nathan had a reputation as a "ladies' man" and was not averse to dating women working in the theater. The character of Addison De Witt, the waspish theater critic who squires a starlet (played by a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe ) in the 1950 film All About Eve was based on Nathan. He had a romantic relationship with actress Lillian Gish , beginning in

986-472: Was acquired in 1943. The Knopfs' son, Alfred "Pat" Jr., was hired on as secretary and trade books manager after the war. In 1957, editor Judith Jones joined Knopf. Jones, who had discovered Anne Frank : Diary of a Young Girl while working at Doubleday, acquired Julia Child 's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Knopf. Jones would remain with Knopf, retiring in 2011 as a senior editor and vice-president after

1020-523: Was covered extensively in The Lady with the Borzoi by Laura Claridge. In 1923, Knopf also started publishing periodicals, beginning with The American Mercury , founded by H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan , which it published through 1934. Also in 1923, Knopf published Kahlil Gibran 's The Prophet . Knopf had published Gibran's earlier works which had disappointing sales. In its first year, The Prophet only sold 1,159 copies. It would double sales

1054-679: Was introduced to Alfred A. Knopf Sr. at a party at the Lawrence Athletic Club in Lawrence, New York . Their relationship was built on their mutual interest in books. As Blanche Knopf said: "Alfred had realized I read books constantly and he had never met a girl who did.... I saw him and [all we did was] talk books, and nobody liked him — my family least of all. But I did, because I had someone to talk books to and we talked of making books.... We decided we would get married and make books and publish them." They were married on April 4, 1916, at

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1088-680: Was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur by the French government in 1949 and became an Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 1960. She was also honored by Brazil with the Order of the Southern Cross . She is the subject of a 2016 biography by Laura Claridge entitled The Lady with the Borzoi: Blanche Knopf, Literary Tastemaker Extraordinaire . In the television series, Julia , based on

1122-474: Was officially incorporated in 1918, with Alfred Knopf as president, Blanche Knopf as vice president, and Samuel Knopf as treasurer. From the start, Knopf focused on European translations and high-brow works of literature. Among their initial publications were French author Émile Augier 's Four Plays , Russian writer Nikolai Gogol 's Taras Bulba , Polish novelist Stanisław Przybyszewski 's novel Homo Sapiens , and French writer Guy de Maupassant 's Yvette,

1156-464: Was published in 1917. With the start of the 1920s Knopf began using innovative advertising techniques to draw attention to their books and authors. Beginning in 1920, Knopf produced a chapbook for the purpose of promoting new books. The Borzoi was published periodically over the years, the first being a hardback called The Borzoi and sometimes quarterly as The Borzoi Quarterly . For Floyd Dell's coming-of-age novel, Moon-Calf , they paid men to walk

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