Mitchell and Morley Kennerley papers

Collection

Identifier: SCU-RBSC-2005-7

Staff Only

Chiefly correspondence from Mitchell Kennerley to authors and others in the booktrade such as, Robert O. Ballou, Francesco Bianco [auctioneer with Anderson Galleries], Edwin F. Edgett, Richard Ellis, Norman Forgue, Lazette van Houten, Samuel Loveman, Donald A. Roberts, and F.E. Voelker. Additional items include letters to Mitchell Kennerley from John Drinkwater, a letter from Ernest G. Henham to Edwin F. Edgett about Kennerley's business ethics, a letter from W.K. Bixby (a partner in the Anderson Galleries) to F.E. Voelker, a letter with post script from C.T. Copeland to Edwin F. Edgett related to an O'Henry imposter, various envelopes, and some clippings.

Other items include: Correspondence to Morley Kennerley re his father's suicide and research notes and materials for a biography of Mitchell Kennerley by Morley Kennerley and Laurence Gomme.

Dates

1902 - 1975

Creator

Kennerley, Mitchell, 1878-1950 (Person)

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Publication Rights

Materials in this collection are not to be reproduced without written permission from Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina.

Extent

3 boxes (62 items (1 cubic foot))

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Mitchell Kennerley was a publisher and bookman active during the first half of the 20th century. He began his career working for John Lane in London, then worked in John Lane's office in New York. He went on to found a magazine, The Reader, in 1902 and to set up his own publishing house in 1904. In 1907, he ventured into bookselling by starting The Little Book-Shop Around the Corner as a means of distributing books published under the Mitchell Kennerley imprint and also imported examples of fine printing. From 1915-1929 he was the president of Anderson Galleries, a New York auction house specializing in antiquarian books and art.

Morley Kennerley wasa director of the British publisher Faber and Faber and the son of Mitchell Kennerley and worked to preserve and continue his father's legacy after his death in 1950.

Arrangement

Organized into five series.

Mitchell Kennerley Papers: I: General; II: Correspondence

Morley Kennerley Papers: III: General; IV: Correspondence; V: Mitchell Kennerley Biography Materials