House of Books, Ltd. Records, 1875-1984

Summary Information

At a Glance

Bib ID:	4078352 View CLIO record
Creator(s):	House of Books, Ltd.
Title:	House of Books, Ltd. Records, 1875-1984
Physical description:	42 linear feet (86 boxes)
Language(s):	In English
Access:	Available for faculty, students, and researchers engaged in scholarly or publication projects. Business records closed until 2000. The following boxes are located off-site: 10-85. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.  More information »

Arrangement

Arrangement

Selected materials cataloged; remainder arranged.

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Description

Scope and Content

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, memorabilia, business records, book catalogs and other printed materials of Louis and Marguerite Cohn and their customers, associates and friends. Correspondents include Stephen Vincent Benʹet, Robert Frost, T.S. Eliot, and Marianne Moore, all among the authors represented in the Crown Octavos series published by the House of Books; there are also manuscripts, proofs and correspondence with printers for this series. Other correspondents include Cyril Connolly, W. Somerset Maugham and Tom Stoppard. Also in the collection are letters and manuscripts from the stock of the shop; notable among these are a series of Graham Greene letters and pages from an autograph book which contains entries from many turn of the century American Literary figures. The collection also include the personal memorabilia of the Cohn and Arnold families. Louis Cohn's participation in World War I as an officer in the French Army is recorded in photographs, documents and memorabilia. Marguerite's childhood collections, among them many early greeting cards, are also included.

Series I: Catalogued Correspondence

Series II: Catalogued Manuscripts

Series III: Catalogued Documents

Series IV: Catalogued Photographs

Series V: Cataloged Art Works

Series VI: Arranged Correspondence

Series VII: Crown Octavos arranged materials

Sereis VIII: Writings and Memorabilia

Series IX: Closed Materials

Series X: Ephemera

Series XI: Photographs

Series XII: Papers and photographs of Capt. Louis Henry Cohn

Gift of Carol Rothkopf, 2016. Accn #2016.2017.M105

Collection of World War I photographs and ephemera relating to Cohn's military service and work as correspondent for the Brooklyn Eagle and others

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Using the Collection

Partially Offsite

Access Restrictions

Available for faculty, students, and researchers engaged in scholarly or publication projects.

Business records closed until 2000.

 The following boxes are located off-site: 10-85. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least two business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.

Restrictions on Use

Readers must use microfilm of materials specified above.

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Librarian for Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Preferred Citation

House of Books, Ltd. Records. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Columbia University.

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About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries. Rare Book and Manuscript Library; machine readable finding aid created by Columbia University Libraries Digital Library Program Division

Processing Information

Business records and stock of shop Processed 1985 JCA

Papers Processed 1985 JCA/JL-W

Stoppard playscript Cataloged 07/23/1992 HR

Letters & memorabilia Cataloged & processed 10/06/1998 HR

Machine readable finding aid generated from MARC-AMC source via XSLT conversion June 26, 2009 Finding aid written in English.

2009-06-26 File created.

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Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Additional Creators

Heading	CUL Archives: Portal	CUL Collections: CLIO	Nat'l / Int'l Archives: ArchiveGRID
Cohn, Louis Henry.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Cohn, Marguerite, 1887-1984.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID

Genre/Form

Heading	CUL Archives: Portal	CUL Collections: CLIO	Nat'l / Int'l Archives: ArchiveGRID
Catalogs.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Financial records.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Manuscripts.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Photographs.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Proofs.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID

Subjects

Heading	CUL Archives: Portal	CUL Collections: CLIO	Nat'l / Int'l Archives: ArchiveGRID
American literature--20th century.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Benét, Stephen Vincent, 1898-1943.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Booksellers and bookselling.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Bookstores--United States.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Connolly, Cyril, 1903-1974.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Consuls.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
English literature--20th century.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Frost, Robert, 1874-1963.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Greene, Graham, 1904-1991.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset), 1874-1965.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Publishers and publishing.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Soldiers.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
Stoppard, Tom.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID
World War, 1914-1918--France.	Portal	CLIO	ArchiveGRID

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History / Biographical Note

History

Louis Henry Cohn, 1888-1953, and Marguerite Arnold Cohn, 1887-1984, opened the House of Books on October 10, 1930. The bookstore specialized in 20th century British and American first editions and brought the Cohns into contact with many of the major literary figures of the century.

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