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Frances Steloff
Ida Frances Stelov (December 31, 1887 – April 15, 1989), better known as Frances "Fanny" Steloff, was the founder of the Gotham Book Mart in New York City, a center for ''avant-garde'' literature and literati from 1920 until it closed in 2007. Ida Frances Stelov was born to a poor family in Saratoga Springs, New York on December 31, 1887. Her mother died when she was young, and at 12 she was taken in by a couple who offered her a home. She dropped out of school in the seventh grade. At the age of 19, she moved to New York where she worked at Loeser's, a department store. She then worked in several bookstores, and in 1920 founded the Gotham Book Mart. She challenged government censorship, ordering smuggled copies of Henry Miller's '' Tropic of Cancer'' in the 1930s and purchasing shipments of D. H. Lawrence's banned book ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' in the late 1920s. She founded the James Joyce Society at the store in 1947. According to its writer Robbie Robertson Ja ...
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Frances Steloff 1978 ©Lynn Gilbert
Frances is a French and English given name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'free one.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the Franks who were named for the francisca, the axe they used in battle. https://nameberry.com/babyname/frances Notable people and characters with the name include: People * Frances, Countess of Périgord (died 1481) * Frances (musician) (born 1993), British singer and songwriter * Frances Estill Beauchamp (1860-1923), American temperance activist, social reformer, lecturer * Frances Burke, Countess of Clanricarde (1567–1633), English noblewoman and Irish countess * Frances E. Burns (1866-1937), American social leader and business executive * Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (1590–1632), central figure in a famous scandal and murder * Frances Lewis Brackett Damon (1857–1939), American poet, writer * Frances Davidson, Viscountess Da ...
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Gotham Book Mart
The Gotham Book Mart was a famous Midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark that operated from 1920 to 2007. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District, then moved to 51 West 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Street, then spent many years at 41 West 47th Street within the 47th Street (Manhattan)#Diamond District, Diamond District in Manhattan, New York City, before finally moving to 16 East 46th Street. Beyond merely selling books, the store virtually played as a literary salon, hosting meetings of the Finnegans Wake Society, the James Joyce Society, poetry and author readings, art exhibits, and more. It was known for its distinctive sign above the door which read, "Wise Men Fish Here" (sign created by artist John Held Jr.). The store specialized in poetry, literature, books about theater, art, music and dance. It sold both new books as well as out-of-print and rare books. History The stor ...
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New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ...
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Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 200 years. It is home to the Saratoga Race Course, a thoroughbred horse racing track, and Saratoga Performing Arts Center, a music and dance venue. The city's official slogan is "Health, History, and Horses." History The British built Fort Saratoga in 1691 on the west bank of the Hudson River. Shortly thereafter, British colonists settled the current village of Schuylerville approximately one mile south; it was known as Saratoga until 1831. Native Americans believed the springs about 10 miles (16 km) west of the village—today called High Rock Spring—had medicinal properties. In 1767, William Johnson, a British soldier who was a hero of the French and Indian War, was brought by Native American friends to the spring to treat his ...
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Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, Surrealism, surrealist free association (psychology), free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are ''Tropic of Cancer (novel), Tropic of Cancer'', ''Black Spring (novel), Black Spring'', ''Tropic of Capricorn (novel), Tropic of Capricorn'', and the trilogy ''The Rosy Crucifixion'', which are based on his experiences in New York City, New York and Paris (all of which were banned in the United States until 1961). He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism, and painted watercolors. Early life Miller was born at his family's home, 450 East 85th Street, in the Yorkville, Manhattan, Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City. He was the son o ...
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Tropic Of Cancer (novel)
''Tropic of Cancer'' is a novel by Henry Miller that has been described as "notorious for its candid sexuality" and as responsible for the "free speech that we now take for granted in literature." It was first published in 1934 by the Obelisk Press in Paris, France, but this edition was banned in the United States. Its publication in 1961 in the United States by Grove Press led to obscenity trials that tested American laws on pornography in the early 1960s. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book non-obscene. It is regarded as an important work of 20th-century literature. Writing and publication Miller wrote the book between 1930 and 1934 during his "nomadic life" in Paris. The fictional Villa Borghese was actually 18 Villa Seurat in Paris' 14th arrondissement. As Miller discloses in the text of the book, he first intended to title it "Crazy Cock". Miller gave the following explanation of why the book's title was ''Tropic of Cancer'': "It was because to me cancer s ...
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Lady Chatterley's Lover
''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' is the last novel by English author D. H. Lawrence, which was first published privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. An unexpurgated edition was not published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960, when it was the subject of a watershed obscenity trial against the publisher Penguin Books, which won the case and quickly sold three million copies. The book was also banned for obscenity in the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Japan. The book soon became notorious for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a working-class man and an upper-class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex and its use of then-unprintable four-letter words. Background The story is said to have originated from certain events in Lawrence's own unhappy domestic life, and he took inspiration for the settings of the book from Nottinghamshire, where he grew up. According to some critics, the fling of Lady Ottoline Morrell with "Tige ...
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Robbie Robertson
Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in 1986, Rick Danko in 1999, and Levon Helm in 2012, Robertson is one of only two living original members of the Band, with the other being Garth Hudson. Robertson's work with the Band was instrumental in creating the Americana music genre. Robertson has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a member of the Band, and has been inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame, both with the Band and on his own. He is ranked 59th in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists. As a songwriter, Robertson is credited for writing "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", " Up on Cripple Creek" with the Band, and had solo hits with " Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy Rive ...
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The Weight
"The Weight" is a song by the Canadian-American group the Band that was released as a single in 1968 and on the group's debut album ''Music from Big Pink''. It was their first release under this name, after their previous releases as Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks. Written by Band member Robbie Robertson, the song is about a visitor's experiences in a town mentioned in the lyric's first line as Nazareth. "The Weight" has significantly influenced American popular music, having been listed as No. 41 on ''Rolling Stone''s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004. Pitchfork Media named it the 13th best song of the Sixties, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. PBS, which broadcast performances of the song in ''Ramble at the Ryman'' (2011), ''Austin City Limits'' (2012), and ''Quick Hits'' (2012), describes it as "a masterpiece of Biblical allusions, enigmatic lines and iconic characters" and notes its enduring ...
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Memoirs Of A Bookseller
''Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller'' is a 1987 American short documentary film produced by Deborah Dickson. It follows Frances Steloff, the founder of the Gotham Book Mart in New York City, a center for avant-garde literature and literati since 1920. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. References External links *''Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller''at Direct Cinema Limited''Frances Steloff: Memoirs of a Bookseller''at Alexander Street Alexander Street is an electronic academic database publisher. It was founded in May 2000 in Alexandria, Virginia, by Stephen Rhind-Tutt (President), Janice Cronin (CFO), and Eileen Lawrence (Vice President, Sales and Marketing). As of January ... 1987 films 1987 documentary films American short documentary films American independent films Documentary films about businesspeople 1980s short documentary films Works about book publishing and bookselling 1987 independent films 1980s Eng ...
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1887 Births
Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. ** British emigrant ship ''Kapunda'' sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors. * January 21 ** The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed in the United States. ** Brisbane receives a one-day rainfall of (a record for any Australian capital city). * January 24 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat the Italians. * January 28 ** In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are wide and thick. ** Construction work begins on the foundations of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. * February 2 – The first Groundhog Day is observed in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. * February 4 – The Interstate Commerce Act ...
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1989 Deaths
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing a large Exxon Valdez oil spill, oil spill; The Fall of the Berlin Wall begins the downfall of Communism in Eastern Europe, and heralds German reunification; The United States United States invasion of Panama, invades Panama to depose Manuel Noriega; The Singing Revolution led to the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the Soviet Union; The stands of Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, Yorkshire, where the Hillsborough disaster occurred; 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Students demonstrate in Tiananmen Square, Beijing; many are killed by forces of the Chinese Communist Party., 300x300px, thumb rect 0 0 200 200 1989 Loma ...
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