Boyle, Kay (1902- 1992)

Babylon. An Open Letter to René Crevel. First Edition of the Published Broadside

Washington, DC: The Black Sun Press, 1945. Letterpress. 31 x 40.5cm. 4pp. As published in Portfolio One , edited by Caresse Crosby.. Eugene Jolas introduced Caresse Crosby and Kay Boyle to one another in Paris on May 19, 1928 at the Bal Nègre, the Montparnasse nightclub famous for black jazz. Harry and Caresse Crosby were known then as an ultramodern, raffish couple determined to establish themselves as poets and patrons of writers and artists. Boyle had made early, significant contributions to the avant-garde literary scene in the United States publishing in Broom, Poetry, This Quarter, and transition. Despite her emerging success, Boyle was in dire financial circumstances. The Crosbys quickly became concerned with Boyle’s welfare and an intimacy between them developed. Their emotional involvement intertwined with their interest in mutual literary endeavors, and the Crosbys’ Black Sun Press published Boyle’s first collection of short stories and her translation of the first chapter of René Crevel’s Babylon, “Mr. Knife, Miss Fork.” .....In 1932, three years after Harry’s scandalous death, Caresse published Boyle’s translation of Raymond Radiguet’s The Devil in the Flesh, and Boyle’s novel Year Before Last under her own imprint, Crosby Continental Editions. Her friendship with the Crosbys also provided Boyle with material for a number of scenes in her fourth novel, My Next Bride (1934)......Boyle’s senior by ten years, Caresse was Kay’s confidante, an older, wiser sister of sorts. Over the next four decades, however, the relationship between them balanced out as Boyle’s reputation flourished as a writer and social activist, and Crosby made great efforts to promote world peace while she continued to support the work of numerous artists and writers. Both women rejected convention’s dictates about romance, marriage, and motherhood. Theirs was an altruistic friendship based on protecting one another’s honor and careers. .

Wittenborn Art BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 16-5850

Catalogue: Ephemera

Boyle, Kay (1902- 1992)

Introduction to a Poem on Flight. First Edition of the Published Broadside

Washington, DC: The Black Sun Press, 1945. Letterpress. 31 x 40.5cm. As published in Portfolio One , edited by Caresse Crosby.. Eugene Jolas introduced Caresse Crosby and Kay Boyle to one another in Paris on May 19, 1928 at the Bal Nègre, the Montparnasse nightclub famous for black jazz. Harry and Caresse Crosby were known then as an ultramodern, raffish couple determined to establish themselves as poets and patrons of writers and artists. Boyle had made early, significant contributions to the avant-garde literary scene in the United States publishing in Broom, Poetry, This Quarter, and transition. Despite her emerging success, Boyle was in dire financial circumstances. The Crosbys quickly became concerned with Boyle’s welfare and an intimacy between them developed. Their emotional involvement intertwined with their interest in mutual literary endeavors, and the Crosbys’ Black Sun Press published Boyle’s first collection of short stories and her translation of the first chapter of René Crevel’s Babylon, “Mr. Knife, Miss Fork.” .....In 1932, three years after Harry’s scandalous death, Caresse published Boyle’s translation of Raymond Radiguet’s The Devil in the Flesh, and Boyle’s novel Year Before Last under her own imprint, Crosby Continental Editions. Her friendship with the Crosbys also provided Boyle with material for a number of scenes in her fourth novel, My Next Bride (1934)......Boyle’s senior by ten years, Caresse was Kay’s confidante, an older, wiser sister of sorts. Over the next four decades, however, the relationship between them balanced out as Boyle’s reputation flourished as a writer and social activist, and Crosby made great efforts to promote world peace while she continued to support the work of numerous artists and writers. Both women rejected convention’s dictates about romance, marriage, and motherhood. Theirs was an altruistic friendship based on protecting one another’s honor and careers. .

Wittenborn Art BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 16-5846

Catalogue: Ephemera

BOYLE, Kay (1902-1992)

[Nazis] [Anschluss] the White Horses of Vienna and Other Stories [Inscribed]

New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1936. First Printing. Hardcover. First Edition (so stated), collecting the title story and seventeen others, including "Major Alshuster," "Astronomer's Wife," and "Winter in Italy." Crown 8vo (186 x 125mm): [10],355,[1]pp. Publisher's French blue cloth, spine lettered in silver, top edge stained blue, fore-edge rough-trimmed; illustrated dust jacket, priced $2.50, printed in black, brown, and blue. Inscribed and dated (December 14, 1977, San Francisco) by Boyle to half title, presumably when she was on the creative writing faculty of San Francisco State College. About Near Fine (spine heavily faded but lettering crisp), the bright jacket slightly edge-worn with spine panel lightened a degree or two. Chambers A11a. "The White Horses of Vienna" was first published in Harper's magazine, in 1935, and won the O. Henry Award for best story that year. Set in the months before the Nazis consolidated control of Austria by the Anschluss, it chronicles the life of an Austrian doctor and Nazi sympathizer and his encounter with a young Jewish student-doctor. Boyle spent three decisive years (1933-1936) in Austria, where she wrote "The White Horses.'' N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.). Near Fine/Near Fine+.

Fine Editions LtdProfessional seller

Book number: BB0888

Catalogue: MODERN FIRSTS

Boyle, Kay (1902- 1992)

Photograph Pf Kay Boyle Circa 1945 in Military Garb. First Edition of the Published Photograph

Washington, DC: The Black Sun Press, 1945. Half-tone reproduction. 31 x 40.5cm. As published in Portfolio One , edited by Caresse Crosby.. Eugene Jolas introduced Caresse Crosby and Kay Boyle to one another in Paris on May 19, 1928 at the Bal Nègre, the Montparnasse nightclub famous for black jazz. Harry and Caresse Crosby were known then as an ultramodern, raffish couple determined to establish themselves as poets and patrons of writers and artists. Boyle had made early, significant contributions to the avant-garde literary scene in the United States publishing in Broom, Poetry, This Quarter, and transition. Despite her emerging success, Boyle was in dire financial circumstances. The Crosbys quickly became concerned with Boyle’s welfare and an intimacy between them developed. Their emotional involvement intertwined with their interest in mutual literary endeavors, and the Crosbys’ Black Sun Press published Boyle’s first collection of short stories and her translation of the first chapter of René Crevel’s Babylon, “Mr. Knife, Miss Fork.” .....In 1932, three years after Harry’s scandalous death, Caresse published Boyle’s translation of Raymond Radiguet’s The Devil in the Flesh, and Boyle’s novel Year Before Last under her own imprint, Crosby Continental Editions. Her friendship with the Crosbys also provided Boyle with material for a number of scenes in her fourth novel, My Next Bride (1934)......Boyle’s senior by ten years, Caresse was Kay’s confidante, an older, wiser sister of sorts. Over the next four decades, however, the relationship between them balanced out as Boyle’s reputation flourished as a writer and social activist, and Crosby made great efforts to promote world peace while she continued to support the work of numerous artists and writers. Both women rejected convention’s dictates about romance, marriage, and motherhood. Theirs was an altruistic friendship based on protecting one another’s honor and careers. .

Wittenborn Art BooksProfessional seller

Book number: 16-5847

Catalogue: Ephemera