Brentano's
| Brentano's Literary Emporium
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1853 |
| resolution | July 18, 2011 |
| Reason for dissolution | bankruptcy |
| Seat |
New York City , United States
|
| management | Brentano family |
| Branch | Book trade |
Brentano’s ( Brentano's Literary Emporium ) was a leading bookstore in New York City founded by August Brentano (1828–1886) around 1853.
history
August Brentano was an Austrian from Hohenems ( Vorarlberg ) who emigrated to the USA and became known as a book and newspaper dealer and publisher of French literature . He began his career in Boston ( Massachusetts ) delivering newspapers. He had a bigger newsstand at the Revere House in Boston and then went to New York. His New York newspaper stand was already a magnet, and the bookstore that was later opened ( Brentano's Literary Emporium , or “Brentano's” for short) was known for its wide range. He was one of the first booksellers in the United States to import newspapers from London and other cities in England .
At that time, Brentano's bookstore was not only New York's largest and leading store, but also a prominent meeting place for American writers for a long time. Brentano's friends included Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson .
In 1877, the nephew August Brentano (August 1, 1853 - 1899) took over the newspaper business and bookstore of his uncle August in New York together with his brothers Arthur († 1944) and Simon († 1915), and a strong expansion followed. Simon Brentano was President of the company until his death in 1915. Arthur then became President.
In 1883 the company's first subsidiary opened in Washington, DC . A year later in Chicago. At times, Brentano's was the largest bookstore chain in the USA with four stores in New York City, as well as individual stores in Chicago , Philadelphia , Boston and Washington, DC By 1928, Brentano also had branches in London and Paris . Despite already existing economic difficulties, Brentano's opened another store in Pittsburgh in 1930 .
A reorganization of the company in 1930 did not succeed and in March 1933 Brentano had to declare bankruptcy.
The financier (and later US ambassador) Stanton Griffis (1887–1974) and the Chicago bookseller Adolf Kroch bought the company. Arthur Brentano remained president of the company and Stanton Griffis became chairman of the board. Adolf Kroch received the Chicago branch and the exclusive right to use the Brentano name in the US states of Illinois , Michigan , Indiana and Wisconsin .
From 1936 to 1939 George Wittenborn worked at Brentano's.
However, after Arthur Brentano's death, his son, Arthur Brentano Jr., president of the company, was replaced in 1949 by Nixon Griffis, son of Stanton Griffis. In 1962 the company was u. a. Acquired from the publisher Crowell Collier.
In 1981 the Macmillan publishing house (which merged with Crowell Collier in 1961) decided to part with Brentano and sold the company to Brentano's management. At the time of sale, Brentano's had 28 stores with locations in Boston, Washington, Atlanta , Toronto , Dallas , San Francisco and San Diego . Less than a year later, however, the new owners had to file for bankruptcy. Brentano's bookstores in Beverly Hills , Costa Mesa and St. Louis were bought by Waldenbooks after bankruptcy in 1984 and by Kmart that year . In 1992 Kmart also acquired Borders Group, Inc. In 1994, Waldenbooks, Brentano's and Borders were merged and the Borders-Walden Group was founded.
On July 18, 2011, the Borders Group filed for bankruptcy and all remaining Brentano stores were closed. A 158 year old bookseller history ended.
publishing company
Due to his specialization in French literature, Brentano published many titles by French writers in exile during the Vichy regime under the brand name "Éditions Brentano's" . The publishing house was sold to Coward-McCann in 1933.
Brentano's bookstore in media
Movie
Brentano's has been featured in the following films:
- Heaven Can Wait ( German: A heavenly sinner ) from 1943 by director Ernst Lubitsch . The bon vivant Henry Van Cleve ( Don Ameche ) meets his future wife Martha Strable ( Gene Tierney ) in Brentano.
- an episode of Mad About You (dt .: Mad About You ). In this episode, Barbara Feldon plays a novelist.
- in some episodes of Seinfeld , especially in "The Bookstore".
- also in Norman… Is That You? .
literature
Brentano's was mentioned in:
- William Dean Howell's book, A Hazard of New Fortunes (Chapter 10).
-
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
- Babylon Revisited ,
- Tender Is the Night (Chapter XX) and
- This Side of Paradise (dt .: This Side of Paradise , (Chapter 2).
- Andy Warhol's book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A To B & Back Again) , (Chapter 9)
Individual evidence
- ^ August Brentano , Hohenems Genealogy, Jewish Families in Vorarlberg and Tyrol.
- ^ August Brentano , Hohenems Genealogy, Jewish Families in Vorarlberg and Tyrol.
- ↑ Simon Brentano, Publisher, Dead , New York Times , February 16, 1915, p. 9.
- ^ Brentano & Co .: A Washington House Rivalling Its Famous New York Compeer , Washington Post , March 7, 1883, p. 4.
- ^ Brentano Brothers Ad , Chicago Daily Tribune, May 22, 1884, p. 12.
- ^ New York Herald Tribune , Feb.17, 1930, p. 13.
- ↑ Brentano's, New York Herald Tribune , January 15, 1928, p. J14.
- ↑ Brentano's Rents in Pittsburgh , New York Times, Jan. 21, 1930, p. 48.
- ↑ Brentano's is put into receivership; Publishers Filing Bankruptcy Petition Voice Intention to Keep Concern Alive , New York Times, March 31, 1933, p. 21.
- ↑ Brentano's, Inc. Is Sold to Kroch, Chicago Dealer: $ 121,000 Bid Accepted by Creditors, Although NY Firm Offered $ 9,000 More; Sale May Be Protested; Member of Bankrupt Book House to Continue With It , New York Herald Tribune, June 8, 1933, 19.
- ↑ Hail Kroch's & Brentano's Giant Store: New Kroch's & Brentano’s , Chicago Daily Tribune, November 21, 1954, Part 4, p. 7.
- ^ Tribune, Special to the Herald, January 30, 1944: “Arthur Brentano Is Dead at 85; Head of Brentano's Book Stores, ”New York Herald Tribune, p. 33; and Arthur Brentano, Bookseller, Dead: Head of Largest Retail Outlet of Kind in World Started as Newsboy With Firm in 1873 , New York Times, Jan. 30, 1944, p. 38.
- ^ Crowell Buying Brentano's, NY Book Retailer , Chicago Daily Tribune, April 5, 1962, pp. D7.
- ↑ Eric Pace, Officers May Buy Brentano’s , New York Times, July 25, 1981.
- ↑ David Emblidge, “Brentano's: Books Afloat on a Sinking Ship” in Publishing Research Quarterly, June 2014, 185–194.
- ↑ Executives Buy Brentano’s , Boston Globe , FIRST ed., August 5, 1981, p. 1.
- ^ Nancy Yoshihara, Brentano Bookstore Chain Files Bankruptcy Petition , Los Angeles Times , May 22, 1982, p. 18.
- ↑ Ann Arbor, The death and life of a great American bookstore , CNN .
- ↑ Doug Schorpp, All Waldenbooks, Borders stores closing , Quad-City Times, July 18, 2011.
- ^ New York Herald Tribune , February 3, 1933, p. 13.