Edward William Titus
Edward William Titus was an influential American publisher and literary figure known for his role in promoting the works of expatriate writers during the Lost Generation era in Paris after World War I. Born in Poland in 1870 and raised in New Orleans, Titus moved to Paris with his first wife, Helena Rubinstein, and their children before the war. In 1926, he founded the Black Manikin Press in the Montparnasse district, where he published significant literary works, including a controversial edition of D. H. Lawrence's *Lady Chatterley’s Lover* and the first published work of Anaïs Nin.
Titus also owned a bookstore, At the Sign of the Black Manikin, which initially aimed to be a gathering place for literary figures but transitioned into publishing due to his unique tastes and challenges in attracting a broader audience. His magazine, *This Quarter*, became a prominent platform for various writers and included significant literary prizes to encourage contributions. After a challenging personal life, including a divorce from Rubinstein, Titus spent his later years in relative seclusion in Cagnes-sur-Mer until his death in 1952. His legacy is marked by his contributions to literature and his support of the artistic community in Paris during a vibrant cultural period.
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Edward William Titus
Nonfiction Writer
- Born: 1870
- Birthplace: Poland
- Died: January 27, 1952
- Place of death: France
Biography
Edward William Titus is remembered for publishing the works of the American expatriate writers, known as the Lost Generation, who lived in Paris after World War I. An American citizen, Titus was born in Poland in 1870. Between 1926, when he established the Black Manikin Press in Paris’s Montparnasse district, and 1937, when he retreated to a quiet life with his second wife, Titus published several important works, including the second edition of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, the first published work of Anais Nin, and introductions to books written by the leading lights of the expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway.
Titus grew up in New Orleans and relocated to Paris with his first wife, cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubenstein, and their children prior to World War I. When the war broke out in Europe, the family returned to the United States, but the marriage was unhappy and Titus returned to Paris in 1918, renting a small apartment near the Café du Dome. His wife’s affluence allowed him to open a bookshop without worrying about profitability, and in 1924 the shop, At the Sign of the Black Manikin, opened for business, stocked with contemporary works from American and English publishers. Titus hoped the store would be a gathering place, but his esoteric tastes and growing collection of rare books inhibited his success in that ambition and by 1926, he had begun publishing instead.
The Black Manikin Press’s early publications included Ralph Cheever Dunning’s Rococo, praised by poet Ezra Pound. Titus next published a deluxe edition of Ludwig Lewisohn’s The Case of Mr. Crump, which was so popular that a second edition was released in 1931 with an introduction by author Thomas Mann. In 1928, Black Manikin published William Van Wyck’s Some Gentlemen of the Renaissance as well as the first edition of Mary Butts’s Imaginary Letters with illustrations by the revered French surrealist film director and artist Jean Cocteau.
Titus’s 1929 reprint of Lady Chatterley’s Lover does not bear the imprint of Black Manikin because of the book’s controversial legal status, but the edition nonetheless sold 11,000 copies and the reprint helped subsidize other less successful Black Manikin projects. Titus also published the first English translation of the memoirs of artists’ model Alice Prin. Translated by Samuel Putman, Titus’s edition of Kiki’s Memoirs contains introductions by both Putnam and Ernest Hemingway which are of academic note as an early theoretical effort on the inherent problems and limitations of translation.
Also in 1929, Titus began publishing the magazine This Quarter. Started four years earlier by Ethel Moorhead and Ernest Walsh, the periodical had ceased publication after Walsh’s death in 1926. Titus became owner and editor of the magazine, which at last allowed him a venue for the literary patronage he had hoped to foster with his bookstore. With assistance from Sylvia Beach, proprietor of the bookstore Shakespeare and Co., Titus’s magazine published writing by Richard Aldington, E. E. Cummings, Walter Lowenfel, D. H. Lawrence, Robert McAlmon, Liam O’Flaherty, Allen Tate, and Robert Penn Warren as well as translations of works by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, Arthur Rimbaud, and Rainer Maria Rilke. To build interest in the magazine, Titus established several prizes with significant financial awards: the Richard Aldington American Poetry Prize, presented to an American author published in the magazine; the This Quarter Prize for the best English author; the William Van Wyck Prize for the best of the two; and the Heinemann Prize for best short story published in the magazine. Although This Quarter ceased publication in 1932, it was consistently a significant forum for these writers, and the penultimate issue contained Andre Breton’s analysis of surrealism which many scholars still consider definitive.
In 1937, Titus’s divorce from Rubinstein was finalized. He remarried shortly after, relocating to Cagnes-sur-Mer where he lived out the rest of his life in relative seclusion until his death in 1952.