Caresse Crosby - Publish Poetry and New Writers

Publish Poetry and New Writers

Caresse and Harry published her first book, Crosses of Gold, in late 1924. It was a volume of conventional, "unadventurous" poetry centering around the ideas of love and beauty and her husband. In 1926, they published her second book, Graven Images, through Houghton Mifflin in Boston. This was the only time they used another publisher. Crosby later wrote that Harry's cousin, Walter Berry, suggested that Houghton Mifflin would publish Caresse's poetry because "they have just lost Amy Lowell." Crosby's poetry remained relatively conventional, "still rhyming love with dove," by her own admission. A Boston Transcript reviewer said her "poetry sings" and a Literary Review contributor admired her "charming" child poems and French flavor. But a critic in the New York Herald Tribune wrote that "or all its enthusiasm there is no impact to thought or phrase, the emotion is meager, the imagination bridled."

In April, 1927, they founded an English language publishing company, first called Éditions Narcisse, after their black whippet, Narcisse Noir. They used the press as an avenue to publish their own poetry in small editions of finely-made, hard-bound volumes. Their first effort was Caresse's Painted Shores in which she wrote about their relationship, including their reconciliation after one of his affairs. Her writing matured somewhat and the book was more creatively organized than her prior efforts. In 1928, she wrote an epic poem which was published as The Stranger. The writing is addressed to the men in her life: her father, husband, and son. In an experimental fashion she explored the various kinds of love she had known. Later that year Impossible Melodies explored similar themes. The Crosby's enjoyed a positive reception from their initial work and decided to expand the press to serve other authors.

They printed limited quantities of meticulously produced, hand-manufactured books, printed on high-quality paper. Publishing in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s put the company at the crossroads of many American writers who were living abroad. In 1928, Éditions Narcisse published a limited edition of 300 numbered copies of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe with illustrations by Alastair.

In 1928, Harry and Caresse changed the name of the press to the Black Sun Press in keeping with Harry's fascination with the symbolism of the sun. Harry developed a private mythology around the sun as a symbol for both life and death, creation and destruction. The press rapidly gained notice for publishing beautifully bound, typographically flawless editions of unusual books. They took exquisite care with the books they published, choosing the finest papers and inks.

They published early works of a number of avant-garde writers before they were well-known, including James Joyce's Tales Told of Shem and Shaun (which was later integrated into Finnegans Wake). They published Kay Boyle's first book-length work, Short Stories, in 1929, and works by Hart Crane, D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, Archibald MacLeish, Ernest Hemingway, Laurence Sterne, and Eugene Jolas. The Black Sun Press evolved into one of the most important small presses in Paris in the 1920s. In 1929, she and Harry both signed poet Eugene Jolas' The Revolution of the Word Proclamation which appeared in issue 16/17 of the literary journal transition. After Harry died in a suicide pact with one of his many lovers, Caresse Crosby continued publishing until 1936, when she left Europe for the United States.