• DOI:10.1353/BH.0.0012
• Corpus ID: 161112866

Designing John Hersey's The Wall: W. A. Dwiggins, George Salter, and the Challenges of American Holocaust Memory

@article{Franciosi2008DesigningJH,
  title={Designing John Hersey's The Wall: W. A. Dwiggins, George Salter, and the Challenges of American Holocaust Memory},
  author={Robert Franciosi},
  journal={Book History},
  year={2008},
  volume={11},
  pages={245 - 274}
}

• R. Franciosi
• Published 12 September 2008
• History
• Book History

Widely admired in 1950 for a list of authors including Willa Cather, Thomas Mann, and Albert Camus, the House of Knopf was even more esteemed within the book trade for the quality and design of its volumes. Founder Alfred A. Knopf brought to his company a devotion to the bookmaking craft that had been largely absent from American publishing since the advent of machine presses in the mid-nineteenth century, a commitment founded on the premise that excellent texts warranted equally impressive design and production. ‘‘I believe that good books should be well made,’’ he wrote in a 1957 publisher’s credo, ‘‘and I try to give every book I publish a format that is distinctive and attractive.’’1 To achieve that publishing ideal, which many would come to associate with Knopf’s famous Borzoi insignia, he engaged some of the best designers of his day, artists who infused the firm’s list with a sensibility that envisioned trade books as both commercial and aesthetic objects. As early as 1930 Knopf had stated that books ‘‘better-looking-than-necessary’’ were manufactured when publishers were driven ‘‘by an inner compulsion stronger than the arguments of bankers.’’ Although keenly aware of financial imperatives, Knopf was committed to the long-term benefits that producing handsome volumes would bring to his company. He felt that ‘‘over a period of time a publisher can win a certain following for what we