The Sunwise Turn, A Modern Bookshop was a

bookshop Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

in New York City that served as a literary salon and gathering-place for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Alfred Kreymborg,

Maxwell Bodenheim Maxwell Bodenheim (May 26, 1892 – February 6, 1954) was an American poet and novelist. A literary figure in Chicago, he later went to New York where he became known as the King of Greenwich Village Bohemians. His writing brought him int ...

, Peggy Guggenheim (an intern in

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

), Theodore Dreiser,

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...

, Harold Loeb, John Dos Passos and others. It was founded by

Madge Jenison Madge Jenison (1874–1960) was an American author, activist, and bookstore owner. She wrote novels, short stories, cultural criticism, and scripts. Her father, Edward Spencer Jenison, was a prominent Chicago architect who helped rebuild the ci ...

and

Mary Horgan Mowbray-Clarke Mary Horgan Mowbray-Clarke (1874–1962) was an American art critic, writer, publisher, instructor, landscape architect, and the proprietor of The Sunwise Turn, a hotbed of artistic activity and anarchist political thought in New York City dur ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

, and operated until

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 * ...

. As such, it is one of the first bookshops in America to be owned and operated by women. Its papers — those of its founders and of the bookshop itself — are held by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The bookshop showed art as well as books; Guggenheim credited the shop with spurring her love of collecting.

Publishing History

In addition to acting as an exhibition and performance space, the shop published five illustrated poetry broadsides and at least ten books between 1916 - 1923. The broadsides were the first publishing venture undertaken by the shop, and each paired an artist with a poet. Issued sequentially in 1916, the broadside series featured poems and hand-colored drawings: # "Ballads for Sale" by Amy Lowell ; drawing by Walt Kuhn # "The Scientist" by Gladys Cromwell ; drawing by John Frederick Mowbray-Clarke # "Cow of Curses" by Amy Murray ; drawing by Amy Murray # "The Bird Seller Praises his Bird of Paradise" by Padraic Colum ; drawing by

Herbert Crowley Herbert E. Crowley (1873–1937) was a British artist, set designer, and comic strip cartoonist. He is the author of ''The Wigglemuch'', a symbolic comic strip published by the ''New York Herald''. It ran for a total of 13 installments from Mar ...

# "Chariots" by Witter Bynner ; drawing by Howard Coluzzi. 1916 also saw the publication of Lord Dunsany's "A Night at an Inn" in conjunction with the Neighborhood Playhouse as "Neighborhood Playhouse Plays No. 1" The Sunwise Turn pioneered the publication of Indian contemporary writing in America with two collections by Ananda Coomaraswamy "The Dance of Siva: Fourteen Indian Essays" and "Prayers and Epigrams."

Locations

The initial location was 2 East 31st Street; in 1919 the shop moved to the Yale Club building at 51 East 44th Street, where it remained until it closed in 1927. Mowbray-Clarke, with the help of Harold and Marjorie Content Loeb, bought Jenison out in 1919/1920. (Jenison would go on to publish an account of the shop's early years, '' Sunwise Turn: A Human Comedy of Bookselling'' .P. Dutton, 1923. When in 1927 it proved to be insolvent, Mowbray-Clarke sold the firm with its stock to Doubleday, Page & Co. for $5,000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunwise Turn Bookstores established in the 20th century Defunct retail companies of the United States Defunct companies based in New York City Retail companies established in 1916