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SIGNATURES
Identified individuals are represented by a biographical sketch, a list of connections to other signatures, and, in most cases, an artifact from the Ransom Centers collections. Help us identify more signatures by submitting your suggested identification.
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THE DOOR
Location on door: front, panel 1
THOMAS SELTZER
Thomas Seltzer (1875-1943) was a prolific translator, journalist, and co-editor of The Masses. He also served as the vice president and editor of The Modern Library, a division of his nephew Albert Boni's publishing firm, Boni & Liveright. In 1919, Seltzer opened his own publishing company, Thomas Seltzer, Inc., which published books by D. H. Lawrence, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Evelyn Scott, and Henry James. Seltzer was known for his dogged loyalty to his clients and their work, and in 1922 he became embroiled in two successive obscenity cases, both of which involved the censorship of Lawrence's Women in Love. Partially due to the costs incurred by the court cases, Seltzer eventually filed for bankruptcy, and in 1924 Lawrence transferred the business of the U.S. distribution of his works from Thomas Seltzer, Inc. to Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
A letter from D. H. Lawrence to Thomas Seltzer, December 3, 1928
In this letter Lawrence asks Seltzer if he will hand over the copyright to his collection of poems Birds, Beasts and Flowers, the American edition of which Seltzer had published in 1923. Lawrence takes the opportunity to reflect upon what he identifies as a common aversion to "modern business" that he believes both he and Seltzer share. The letter is possibly an attempt by Lawrence to smooth over what had been an uneasy break in their friendship when Lawrence cut business ties with Seltzer four years prior.