The Borzoi 1920 — Reading Notes

A Publisher’s Self-Portrait Through Contributors

Knopf’s choice of contributors reflects his desire to associate his firm with literary modernism and critical authority. The inclusion of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and H.L. Mencken signals an alignment with avant-garde and iconoclastic voices. Yet the volume also features more established figures like Willa Cather and Max Beerbohm, suggesting a deliberate balance between innovation and respectability. The essays are not mere puff pieces; many offer substantive literary criticism, such as Cather’s “On the Art of Fiction” and Mencken’s appraisal of Cather herself. This blend of promotion and critique gives the catalog an unusual intellectual heft.

Diction and Voice in the Original Papers

The original papers vary widely in tone and style. Conrad Aiken’s poem “How He Died” employs a hallucinatory, rhythmic diction: “The walls went round in a ringing haze” and “the lights like birds went swiftly round.” The poem’s repetition of time markers (“After a while the clock struck two”) creates a dreamlike progression. In contrast, H.M. Tomlinson’s “A Memory of Ypres” uses a more restrained, reportorial voice, focusing on sensory details of war. The juxtaposition of such disparate styles within a single volume underscores Knopf’s editorial range and his willingness to let authors speak in their own idioms.

The Bibliography as a Literary Artifact

The bibliography section lists Borzoi titles with publication dates, prices, and occasional annotations. It functions both as a record of Knopf’s output and as a subtle advertisement. The inclusion of excerpts—such as the passage from Aiken’s poem—serves to entice readers while demonstrating the quality of the press’s list. The bibliography is not exhaustive but selective, highlighting works Knopf deemed most representative. This curatorial approach transforms a dry list into a statement of aesthetic values, revealing which authors and genres the publisher wished to emphasize.

Biographical Portraits and Their Implications

The “Who’s Who” section provides concise biographies of authors, often noting education, travel, and previous publications. For instance, the entry for Arthur Waley mentions he “learnt Chinese and Japanese from native teachers in London,” emphasizing his self-taught expertise. These portraits serve multiple purposes: they humanize the authors, establish their credentials, and reinforce the publisher’s brand as a cultivator of intellectual talent. The uniformity of the entries—each following a similar template—creates a sense of coherence, while the details themselves hint at the diverse backgrounds of Knopf’s stable.

The Borzoi 1920 rewards readers interested in the intersection of publishing, literary criticism, and cultural history. Its hybrid format—part catalog, part anthology—offers a snapshot of a moment when American publishing was becoming more self-conscious about its role in shaping literary taste. Readers should approach it not as a complete work but as a curated selection that reveals as much about its editor as its contributors.

Over the years I have leafed through our 1920 Borzoi catalog so often that its essays feel like old friends murmuring about craft and patience. That same unhurried temper lives in Rustic Sounds, and Other Studies in Literature and Natural History — Background and Themes, where woods and words share one quiet breath. They sit together on my shelf, two voices that understand listening.