John Chipman Farrar (February 25, 1896 – November 5, 1974) was an American editor, writer, and publisher. Farrar founded two publishing companies —
Farrar & Rinehart
Farrar & Rinehart (1929–1946) was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Ner ...
and
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
. He also conceived and founded the
Breadloaf Writers' Conference in 1926.
Life
Farrar was born in
Burlington, Vermont. After serving in World War I as an aviation inspector, he graduated in 1919 from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, where he contributed to campus humor magazine ''
The Yale Record
''The Yale Record'' is the campus humor magazine of Yale University. Founded in 1872, it became the oldest humor magazine in the world when ''Punch'' folded in 2002."History", The Yale Record, March 10, 2010. http://www.yalerecord.com/about/histo ...
'' and was a member of
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
.
In that year his book ''Forgotten Shrines'' was awarded the
Yale Younger Poets Prize
The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...
.
He became editor of ''
The Bookman'', up to its 1927 purchase by
Seward Collins. Going into publishing, he worked for two years at
Doubleday, Doran and Company. Then in 1929 he was a founder of the house of
Farrar & Rinehart
Farrar & Rinehart (1929–1946) was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Ner ...
, with Stanley M. Rinehart Jr. and Frederick R. Rinehart, sons of
Mary Roberts Rinehart
Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fir ...
who had also been at Doubleday Doran.
During the Second World War, Farrar took a post in the
Office of War Information
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a United States government agency created during World War II. The OWI operated from June 1942 until September 1945. Through radio broadcasts, newspapers, posters, photographs, films and other ...
’s Overseas News and Features Bureau. Farrar soon took a leave of absence to serve overseas. He spent several months in the Mediterranean, where, as the Allies advanced on Italy and North Africa, he took charge of Psychological Warfare in Algeria. Upon Farrar's return from Algeria he spent the rest of 1945 winding down his work on the army magazines known as ''Victory'' and ''America'
Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Later, after war work in World War II, he was a founder of
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
. Also, he is considered to be influential in the successful establishment of the
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...
at
Middlebury College in Middleburg, Vermont.
According to
Frances Stonor Saunders
Frances Hélène Jeanne Stonor Saunders FRSL (born 14 April 1966) is a British journalist and historian.
Early life
Frances Stonor Saunders is the daughter of Julia Camoys Stonor and Donald Robin Slomnicki Saunders. Her father, who died in 199 ...
(''
Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War'', p. 242) Farrar also played a role in
Cord Meyer
Cord Meyer Jr. (; November 10, 1920 – March 13, 2001) was a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official. After serving in World War II as a Marine officer in the Pacific War, where he was both injured and decorated, he led the United World Fe ...
's appointment of John Hunt to replace the
Congress for Cultural Freedom
The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist advocacy group founded in 1950. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the CIA was instrumental in the establishment and funding of the ...
's ailing head
Michael Josselson
Michael Josselson (2 March 1908, Tartu, Governorate of Livonia – 7 January 1978, Geneva, Switzerland) was a CIA agent.
Biography
Michael Josselson was born into a Jewish family in Estonia, where his father was a timber merchant. Strongly oppos ...
. Farrar recommended Hunt for his "executive ability, a careful head and a sense of mission for the things we all believe in."
His work appeared in ''Harper's''.
In 1926, Farrar married
crossword puzzle
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...
pioneer
Margaret Petherbridge.
Farrar died in New York City. He is buried at Lakeside Cemetery in Burlington, Vermont.
Works
*''Portraits'' Yale prize poem, Yale University Press, 1916
*
*
*''Gold-Killer: A Mystery of the New Underworld'', as John Prosper, with
Prosper Buranelli New York: Doran 1922
*''The Bookman Anthology of Essays'', editor, George H. Doran company, 1923
*''Songs for Johnny-Jump-Up'', R.R. Smith, Inc., 1930
Anthologies
*
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
John C. Farrar obituary ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' (November 18, 1974)
*
*
John Chipman Farrar Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrar, John C.
American publishers (people)
American book publishing company founders
20th-century American poets
20th-century American male writers
American male poets
Writers from Burlington, Vermont
Yale Younger Poets winners
The Yale Record alumni
1896 births
1974 deaths