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Finding Aid for the Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. records, ca. 1916-1974
1462
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Title: Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. records,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1916-1974
Collection number: 1462
Creator: Albert & Charles Boni
Extent: 10 boxes (5 linear ft.)
Abstract: Albert Boni (1892-1981) founded Albert and Charles Boni, Incorporated with his brother in New York City (1923). They introduced
Boni Paper Books, and sold them by mail-order subscription. Active in both literary and political fields, the firm published
such controversial and influential writers as Marcel Proust, Colette, D.H. Lawrence, Upton Sinclair and Leon Trotsky. The
collection consists of papers relating to Albert and Charles Boni, Incorporated.
Language: Finding aid is written in English
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Department
of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of William Boni, 1985.
[Identification of item], Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. Records (Collection 1462). Department of Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Initial processing of collection done by Kayla Landesman, August 1986. Full processing and description by Michael Devine in
the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Laurel McPhee, Summer 2004.
Albert Boni was born in 1892 in New York City and attended Harvard University. Between the two World Wars Albert Boni left
a lasting impression on the publishing world, first with Horace Liveright (Boni & Liveright) and then with his brother Charles
(Albert & Charles Boni, Inc.). Boni's first publishing venture was The Little Leather Library, which sold abridged classics
in a very small format through Woolworth's (1914). After selling the Washington Square Bookshop in 1917, he joined Horace
Liveright to form the Boni-Liveright Publishing Company, which started the Modern Library of the World's Best Classics. Modern
Library intended to copy the success of the popular British Everyman Series; in 1925, Boni's salesman Bennett Cerf bought
the line, and went on to start Random House. With Albert and Charles Boni, Inc., he moved away from repackaging the classics
in hopes of publishing exciting contemporary literature. By 1923 Boni and his brother founded Albert and Charles Boni, Incorporated,
a firm that introduced Boni Paper Books and sold them by mail-order subscription. Active in both the literary and the political
fields, the firm published such controversial and influential writers as Marcel Proust, Colette, D.H. Lawrence, Upton Sinclair,
and Leon Trotsky. In the 1940s, Boni's interest in photography and light technologies led him to create the Readex Microprint
Corporation. He died on July 13, 1981 in Ormond Beach, Florida.
The bulk of this collection records Boni's commercial concerns as a publisher; his social and literary interests are clear
through correspondence with a variety of artists and writers, from Max Eastman and George Bernard Shaw to Jim Tully. The collection
also includes papers related to the Readex Microprint Corporation and Boni's photography compilation, A guide to the literature
of photography and related subjects.
Arranged in the following series:
- Miscellaneous business papers, 1928-1974 (Boxes 1-2).
- Correspondence, 1916-1966 (Boxes 3-5).
- Contracts, 1921-1973 (Boxes 5-10).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Boni, Albert, 1892-.
Boni, Charles.
Albert & Charles Boni, Inc.--Archives.
Publishers and publishing--United States--Archival resources.
Albert Boni Collection of Material about Photography (Collection 1046).
Available at UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections.