William Bird
William Bird was an American journalist and publisher, born and raised in New York. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1912 and spent a significant portion of his career in France, contributing to several notable newspapers, including The New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. In 1920, he co-founded The Consolidated Press with David Lawrence, further establishing himself in the field of journalism. Bird also pursued his passion for printing by creating a small press, Three Mountain Press, where he published limited editions of works by prominent "Lost Generation" authors, including Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. Notably, his press was responsible for one of the first collections of Ernest Hemingway's stories, "In Our Time," which played a crucial role in Hemingway's literary ascent. Bird later took on an editorial position with The Tangier Gazette while stationed in Tangier. He passed away in 1963 due to a stroke. His contributions to both journalism and literature reflect a rich career dedicated to the written word.
On this Page
Subject Terms
William Bird
Writer
- Born: 1888
- Birthplace: Buffalo, New York
- Died: August 2, 1963
Biography
William Bird was born and raised in New York. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1912. Bird spent most of his journalistic career in France, writing for newspapers such as The New York Sun and The New York Post early in his career, and later on for The New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He also founded his own wire press, The Consolidated Press, with his friend David Lawrence in 1920.
While in France, Bird started up a small press, Three Mountain Press, as a hobby. He printed small books on a Mathieu hand press that was about two hundred years old. His press published works of “Lost Generation” writers like Ezra Pound, Ford Maddox Ford, and William Carlos Williams in editions of three hundred or fewer copies in order to create rare editions for collectors. Bird’s press also published one of the first collections of Ernest Hemingway’s stories, In Our Time. This publication helped established Hemingway as a rising young writer. Bird was later assigned a post in Tangier. While stationed there, he was an editor for The Tangier Gazette, an English-language weekly. Bird died of stroke in 1963.