It's Publication Week for ENDPAPERS, and no more appropriate time to highlight four Pantheon titles published by Helen & Kurt Wolff and how they figure in the story.
In 1955 Anne Morrow Lindbergh's GIFT FROM THE SEA essentially saved the struggling firm, selling 600,000 in hardcover and another 2 million in paperback, "certifying Pantheon's naturalization in the world of American letters," as I write.
Three years later DOCTOR ZHIVAGO became a global publishing phenomenon--and brought to a head long-simmering tensions within Pantheon that led to Helen & Kurt's departure and ultimately finding a home with William Jovanovich at Harcourt Brace.
Both BASIC VERITIES, by the French poet and essayist Charles Péguy (which my grandfather vowed to never let go out of print), and LOST TREASURES OF EUROPE were originally published with real gold leaf on their spines. A Pantheon salesman once argued for fake, citing the savings on each copy. “Fake will fade,” Kurt countered. To which the salesman said, “But by then the customer will have bought the book.” Precisely, Kurt said—settling the issue. Only real gold would do.
Charles Péguy