Bill Bird, as he was usually known, was born in Buffalo, New York State. He was educated at Trinity College, Hartford. With David Lawrence he founded Consolidated Press Association in 1920; it lasted until 1933.
He started Three Mountains Press in 1922, producing books himself by a slow process of hand printing (the mountains appeared on the colophon). An early work was his own A Practical Guide to French Wines (1922). It was based at 29, quai d'Anjou, where he later provided office accommodation to Ford Madox Ford for the Transatlantic Review. It was through Ernest Hemingway that Bird contacted Pound.
In the period to 1925 the Press published works including Pound's A Draft of XVI Cantos, Hemingway's in our time, William Carlos Williams's The Great American Novel, and Distinguished Air by Robert McAlmon. On the business side there was a close involvement with McAlmon's Contact Editions. Bird's interest then dropped, and he sold the printing press, Caslon type and goodwill to Nancy Cunard, supervising the move to her Normandy farmhouse.
His career as journalist outlasted the CPA: he next worked for the New York Sun, remaining in Paris until 1940. He moved at that point to Spain.
After World War II he was in Tangier, where he edited the Tangier Gazette English-language newspaper until it was closed in 1960.
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Persondata | |
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Name | Bird, William |
Alternative names | |
Short description | American journalist |
Date of birth | 1888 |
Place of birth | |
Date of death | 1963 |
Place of death |
Famous quotes containing the words bill and/or bird:
“Its true Ive got no shirts to wear;
Its true my butchers bill is due;
Its true my prospects all look blue
But dont let that unsettle you:”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18361911)
“Id like to come back as an independent woman who has more ambition than I have.”
—Jenny Bird (b. c. 1937)