Holliday Bookshop Collection, 1921-1979
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Mortimer Rare Book Room Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Eric Steven Cartier. 2003-09-15
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Holliday Bookshop Collection
Creation of Holliday Bookshop Collection
Time of Creation of Holliday Bookshop Collection
Holliday Bookshop
Biographical History for: Holliday Bookshop Collection
Historical Note Terence Holliday, an avid reader, worked at Brentano's in 1919, in order to learn "something about the book business." In 1920, Terence and his wife Elsa (Smith class of 1911) opened their bookshop on 10 West 47th Street in New York City. The bookshop began to slowly grow, despite the Holliday's choice to ignore the advice of Frank Crowningshield of Vanity Fair, to "have a couple of attractive young ladies serve tea in the shop every afternoon." Initially, the bookshop specialized in importing English books, as well as offering unusual and rare books, especially first editions of contemporary authors and private press books. Later, the Hollidays promoted the works of younger British and American poets and novelists, such as W. H. Auden, Thornton Wilder, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Katherine Mansfield, William Faulkner, and T. S. Eliot. In 1925, the bookshop moved to 49 West 49th Street. This location was a propitious one, since there were specialty bookshops in the area. Rather than competing for customers, the bookshops cooperated, making referrals and placing orders for each other. Unfortunately, some of the larger publishers in competition with the Holliday were not nearly as gracious. The import of English editions was made difficult by the existing copyright laws, and the invention of "limited editions" from the larger houses also threatened business. The Hollidays weathered the Depression, with Terence lecturing occasionally and writing articles to make ends meet. However, by 1950, the difficulties of running the bookshop began to wear on Terence, and the Hollidays began to look for a buyer for their shop. A run of bad luck ensued, including two destructive fires of suspicious origin. In 1951, the Hollidays sold their bookstore to Robert T. Vanderbilt, and retired in Milford, Connecticut. Terence Holliday died in 1969 at the age of 84. Elsa Detmold Holliday died in 1991 at the age of 100. After 31 years of existence, the Holliday bookshop had become more than a bookshop; it had become an "Institution."
Scope and Contents of the Collection The archive of the Holliday Bookshop contains book catalogues, correspondence, writings, publicity, and photographs, dating from 1921 to 1979. The archive was donated to the Mortimer Rare Book Room in 1994 by John Detmold, in memory of his aunt, Elsa Detmold Holliday, class of 1911. The collection is divided up into five series, in 52 folders.
Bookstores--New York (State)--New York.
lcsh
Holliday, Terrance.
lcnaf
Holliday, Elsa Detmold.
Holliday Bookshop.
series
Series I. Book Catalogues, 1921-1937
Series I. consists of book catalogues written and distributed monthly by the Hollidays (folders 1-8). These catalogues were the source of the majority of their business, as well as being valuable references for collectors and librarians.
Series II. Correspondence, 1921-1973
Series II. contains the Bookshop correspondence, including cards and letters from Archibald MacLeish, Louisa Brooke Jones, and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt (folders 8-34).
Series III. Publicity, 1924-1979
Series III. consists of publicity surrounding the bookshop, including an advertisement which ran in the first issue of the New Yorker, information on the sale of the shop, and various reviews and articles written about the bookshop (folders 35-45).
Series IV. Writings, 1929-1930
Series IV. consists of writings by Elsa and Terence Holliday, including a history of the bookshop, and an article on bookselling for Encyclopedia Britannica (folders 46-49).
Series V. Photographs
Series V. contains photographs of the Hollidays, and their close friends Irving and Ellen Berlin (folders 50-52).
Books to Read and Re-read 1921
Catalog of Modern and Contemporary Books n.d.
Holliday Books for Christmas 1930-1950
The Holliday Book Shop. Current Books, No. 8-10 1924
The Holliday Book Shop. New & Forthcoming Books, No. 11-20 1925-1929
The Holliday Book Shop. New & Forthcoming Books, No. 21-23 1929-1931
No. 23 annotated in pencil on the back cover.
100 Good Books [1937]
Ten Favorite Books n.d.
Bogan, Louise. ALS 1943 Aug 1
Brandt & Brandt. TLS 1952 Mar 18
Brandt & Brandt. TLS 1952 Mar 31
From Elsa Holliday. TL 1952 Apr 1
Brandt & Brandt. TLS 1952 Apr 3
From Elsa Holliday. TL 1952 May 14
Brandt & Brandt. TLS 1952 May 20
Carter, John and Ernestine. Card and envelope 1940 Dec 27
Curtiss, Mina. TLS 1951 Aug 4
Doubleday, Page and Co. TLS 1924 Feb 24
From Holliday Book Shop. TL 1924 Feb 25
Doubleday, Page and Co. TLS 1924 Feb 27
Encyclopedia Britannica. TLS 1928 Sep 14
Encyclopedia Britannica. TLS 1928 Sep 20
From Terence Holliday. TLS 1928 Sep 27
Fletcher, Frank Irving. TLS 1923 Jul 20
Gregg, Eleanor and Alan. ALS 1951 Oct 22
Harpers' Bazaar. TLS 1938 Jul 19
Holliday, Terence and Elsa. ACS 1921
Holliday Book Shop. TL 1924 Dec 4
Jones, Louisa Brooke. ACS 1943 Aug 12
Jones, Louisa Brooke. ALS 1951 Jul 26
MacLeish, Archibald. TLS 1943 Aug 9
Marshall, Lenore G. ALS 1943 Aug 10
McFee, William. ALS and envelope 1922 Nov 27
New Yorker
Advertising Dept. TLS 1925 Mar 16
Editorial Offices. TLS 1975 Mar 11
Peirce, Albert E. Care of Mrs. C. M. Thomas. 2 bills and ACS sent from Terence Holliday 1930 Jun 6
Random House. ACS 1938 Jun 29
Roosevelt, Mrs. Theodore. ACS n.y. Aug 31
Shawn, William. Draft letter by Elsa Holliday n.d.
Simon and Schuster. TLS 1942 Apr 29
Simon and Schuster. TLS 1942 May 8
Simon and Schuster. TLS 1942 Jul 7
Smith College Library. TLS 1962 Jul 31
Smith College Museum of Art. TLS 1973 May 30
Sze, Marimai. ALS 1943 Aug 8
Sze, Marimai. ALS 1952 Jun 2
Whistler, Laurence. ALS 1952 Sep 19
Wilson, Edmund. ALS and transcript. 1951 Jul 29
Unidentified [first initial V] n.d.
Advertisement for special edition of book entitled The Squire's Home-made Wines 1924 Feb.
Article describing popularity of recent books from England at the Holliday Bookshop n.d.
Article describing lecture given by Mrs. Terence Holliday at the American Association of University Women n.d.
Bulletin of The New York Library Club. Includes speech made by Terence Holliday, "Not Everyone Reads Best Sellers" at the January Meeting 1930 Jan 30
SEE ALSO: "Writings" for typescript version of speech, found loose inside bulletin which differs from version in bulletin.
Cartoon of the Holliday Book Shop. Caption reads "The Holiday Book Shop at 49 East 49th Street," n.d.
"Holliday Bookshop sold to British Book Centre." Article from Publisher's Weekly in the "Retailing" section 1961 Apr 3
"A Magazine in Transition is the Talk of the Town." Article from New York Times on William Shawn and the New Yorker 1979 May 27
New Yorker. Reproduction of first issue, with advertisement for Holliday Book Shop on pg. 26 1925 Feb 21
Review of The Squire's Home-made Wines 1924 Feb
Tallis, Thomas. Printed copy of inscription on tomb n.d.
"Terence Holliday to Address Literary Department." Article from The Villager 1931 Dec 1
HOLLIDAY, ELSA
"Holiday [sic] in Name Only." Mimeographed manuscript, annotated in pen. n.d.
"Holiday [sic] in Name Only." Typescript manuscript, annotated in pencil. n.d.
Both copies are ascribed to both Elsa and Terence, but were written solely by Elsa.
SEE ALSO: "Correspondence," Brandt and Brandt, regarding publication of the manuscript.
"The Literary Scene in New York in the 20's, 30's & 40's." Typescript draft of talk given by Elsa Holliday at meeting of American Association of University Women n.d.
HOLLIDAY, TERENCE
"Bookselling in the United States." Typescript draft. For inclusion in the Encyclopedia Brittanica 1930
["Not Everyone Reads Best Sellers"]. Typescript version of talk given at The New York Library Club. 1930 Jan 30
"Not Everyone Reads Best Sellers." Publishers's Weekly 1929 Jul 27
"Not Everyone Reads Best Sellers." Reprinted by The Holliday Book Shop from Publishers' Weekly.
3 black and white photographs of Terence and Elsa Holliday.
Ellen and Irving Berlin and 3 daughters. Photograph mounted on Christmas card.
3 color transparencies and one color photograph depicting Terence Holliday and a model at The Holliday Book Shop.