Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Roy Publishers archive
- Dates:
- circa 1940-1985
- Creators:
- Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc.
- Abstract:
- Roy Publishers focused largely on translations of Polish writers beginning in the 1940s.
- Extent:
- 13 Linear Feet (28 boxes)
- Language:
- Polish and Collection is in Polish and English (majority Polish).
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Roy Publishers records (M2074). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This is a large archive collection of correspondence, documents, books, and ephemera from Roy Publishers – a Polish firm founded by Marian and Hanna Kister in Warsaw in the 1920s and re-established in New York City after the German invasion. The house, known as Wydawnictwo Roj in Warsaw during the interwar period, published contemporary literary works in Polish, beginning with Maxim Gorky's My Childhood and including other important works by Proust, Sigrid Undset, Thomas Mann, Aldous Huxley, Sinclair Lewis, John Steinbeck, and Jack London, among others.
In New York the house regained prominence with its publication of Rulka Langer's memoir about the German bombardment and Siege of Warsaw (The Mermaid and the Messerschmitt), and Langer's translation of Zofia Kossak's Blessed Are the Meek in 1944. Thereafter the firm introduced more Polish writers on both sides of the Atlantic to American and English readers than any other publisher of the day.
The archive contains office folders of letters and related material from many important Polish writers and artists published by the firm (in Polish and English translations) including Melchior Wankowicz, Ksawery Pruszynski, and other Second World War resistance fighters, prominent writers, illustrators, journalists, and diplomats.
The collection dates from 1940 up through the mid-1980s. Over half consists of the firm's office files of original letters, most of which are addressed to Marian and Hanna Kister, and accompanying typescript copies of the Kister's letters. Collection also includes his correspondence with several editors and publishers. Most of the correspondence is in Polish. Many folders contain ephemera, photographs, manuscripts, printer's proofs of illustrations, jackets, etc.
--adapted from dealer's description of collection.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Roy Publishers was a New York-based publishing house that focused largely on translations of Polish writers into English. Its founder, Marian Kister (1897-1958), left Poland during World War II and came to New York in 1941. Having previously been a publisher in Warsaw under the company name Rój, he and his wife Hanna started their publishing work shortly after settling in New York.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase; 2015. Accession MSS 2015-050.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-03-22 10:03:17 -0700 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Tax records in Box 24 are restricted until 2027.
- Terms of access:
-
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Roy Publishers records (M2074). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022