Four Seas Company Explained

The Four Seas Company was a bookstore and small-press publisher in Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] It is remembered today mostly for its publication of the early work of major modernist writers such as William Faulkner,^[2] William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein,^[3] and Yone Noguchi. Four Seas was founded by the young Edmund R. Brown upon his graduation from Harvard College in 1910,^[4] and its imprint first appears in 1911. The last book published under the imprint was in 1930, the year the company was absorbed by Bruce Humphries, Inc.^[5]

Notable publications

• Stephen Vincent Benét's first book, Five Men and Pompey (1915)
• William Carlos Williams, Al Que Quiere! (1917)
• John Gould Fletcher, Japanese Prints (1918)
• Yone Noguchi, Japanese Hokkus (1920)
• Olga Petrova, The White Peacock (1920)
• Gertrude Stein, Geography and Plays, (1922)
• William Faulkner's first book, The Marble Faun (1924)^[6]
• Harry Crosby, Chariot of the Sun (1929)
• The first two editions of Brazilian literature translated into English: Graca Aranha, Canaan (1920), and Isaac Goldberg, ed, Brazilian Tales (1921)^[7]
• The periodical Poetry Journal

Further reading

• Publishing William Carlos Williams: selected correspondence, a collection of William Carlos Williams' correspondence with the Four Seas Company
• Gertrude Stein's correspondence at the Archives at Yale

References

1. Book: Bruno, Guido. Adventures in American Bookshops, Antique Stores and Auction Rooms. Douglas Bookshop. 1922. Detroit. 106.
2. Web site: William Faulkner: Apprentice Years . The University of Michigan Special Collections Library . 22 February 2020.
3. Book: Dydo . Ulla E. . Rice . William . Gertrude Stein: The Language That Rises: 1923-1934 . 2003 . Northwestern University Press . 0-8101-1919-6 . 44 . 22 February 2020.
4. Shackelford, Lynne P. "Four Seas Company." American Literary Publishing Houses, 1900-1980: Trade and Paperback, edited by Peter Dzwonkoski, Gale, 1986. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 46. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1220000368/GLS?sid=GLS&xid=0f109352
5. Web site: Krygier . John . Contemporary Series: The Four Seas Company . Ohio Wesleyan University . 22 February 2020.
6. Book: Brodsky . Louis Daniel . William Faulkner, Life Glimpses . 2011 . University of Texas Press . 978-0292739918 . 37 . 22 February 2020.
7. News: WITH AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS. September 24, 1922. New York Times. Feb 21, 2020.