Albert Boni (1892-1981) originated the idea of a very small format for abridged classics called “The Little Leather Library,” which were sold through Woolworth's (1914). He sold the book shop in 1917 and joined Horace Liveright to form the Boni-Liveright Publishing Company, which introduced the “Modern Library of the World's Best Classics”. In 1923, he and his brother founded a firm which introduced “Boni Paper Books” and sold them by mail-order subscription; the firm also published such controversial and influential writers as Marcel Proust, Colette, D.H. Lawrence, and Upton Sinclair. The collection consists of pamphlets, journal articles, bibliographies, catalogs, a scrapbook, notebooks, ephemera, photostats, photographs, and negatives relating to photography. Includes materials about technical processes and Boni's compilation, A guide to the literature of photography and related subjects.

Boni was born in 1892 in New York City; attended Harvard University; in 1912, with his brother Charles, he established the Washington Square Book Shop, a gathering place for Bohemian intellectuals; about 1914 originated the idea of a very small format for abridged classics called “The Little Leather Library,” which were sold through Woolworth's; sold the book shop in 1917 and joined Horace Liveright to form the Boni-Liveright Publishing Company, which introduced the “Modern Library of the World's Best Classics”; in 1923 he and his brother founded a firm which introduced “Boni Paper Books” and sold them by mail-order subscription; the firm also published such controversial and influential writers as Marcel Proust, Colette, D.H. Lawrence, and Upton Sinclair; the firm finally failed with the depression, and Boni later created the Readex Microprint Corporation; he died on July 13, 1981 in Ormond Beach, Florida.

14 boxes (7 linear ft.)

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