William Augustus Bird (1888–1963) was an American journalist, now remembered for his Three Mountains Press, a small press he ran while in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in the 1920s for the Consolidated Press Association.Library.sc.edu
/ref> Taken over by

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

in 1928, it became the Hours Press, and continued its association with many of the most important

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

s; Ezra Pound had a position as editor for Three Mountains from 1923. Bill Bird, as he was usually known, was born in Buffalo, New York. He was educated at

Trinity College, Hartford Trinity College is a private liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded as Washington College in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut. Coeducational since 1969, the college enrolls 2,235 students. Trini ...

. With David Lawrence he founded Consolidated Press Association in 1920; it lasted until 1933. He started Three Mountains Press in 1922, producing books himself by a slow process of hand printing (the mountains appeared on the colophon). An early work was his own ''A Practical Guide to French Wines'' (1922). It was based at 29, quai d'Anjou, where he later provided office accommodation to

Ford Madox Ford Ford Madox Ford (né Joseph Leopold Ford Hermann Madox Hueffer ( ); 17 December 1873 – 26 June 1939) was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals '' The English Review'' and ''The Transatlantic Review'' were instrumental in ...

for the ''

Transatlantic Review Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

''. It was through

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

that Bird contacted Pound. In the period to 1925 the Press published works including Pound's ''A Draft of XVI Cantos'', Hemingway's ''in our time'',

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

's ''The Great American Novel'', and ''Distinguished Air'' by

Robert McAlmon Robert Menzies McAlmon (also used Robert M. McAlmon, as his signature name, March 9, 1895 – February 2, 1956) was an American writer, poet, and publisher. In the 1920s, he founded in Paris the publishing house, Contact Editions, where he publ ...

. On the business side there was a close involvement with McAlmon's Contact Editions. Bird's interest then dropped, and he sold the printing press,

Caslon Caslon is the name given to serif typefaces designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692–1766) in London, or inspired by his work. Caslon worked as an engraver of punches, the masters used to stamp the moulds or matrices used to cast metal ty ...

type and goodwill to Nancy Cunard, supervising the move to her

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

farmhouse. His career as journalist outlasted the CPA: he next worked for the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', remaining in Paris until 1940. He moved at that point to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capi ...

, where he edited the ''Tangier Gazette'' English-language newspaper until it was closed in 1960.

References

External links

* William Bird Ezra Pound Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, William 1888 births 1963 deaths Writers from Buffalo, New York American male journalists 20th-century American newspaper founders Journalists from New York (state) American expatriates in France