Donald Friede
A Register of His Papers at the Library of Congress
Prepared by Brad E. Gernand
Manuscript Division,
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
1991
Contact information:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division,
2007
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007054
Title: Papers of Donald Friede
Span Dates: 1919-1980
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1925-1965)
ID No.: MSS47092
Creator:
Friede,
Donald
Extent: 1,200
items;
7 containers;
3 linear feet;
1 microfilm reel
Language: Collection material in
English
Repository:
Manuscript Division, Library of
Congress,
Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Literary agent,
publisher, and writer. Correspondence, drafts of writings, reports, diaries,
photographs, and biographical material pertaining to Friede's career in
publishing.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person
or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed
alphabetically therein.
Names:
Friede,
Donald
Bemelmans, Ludwig, 1898-1962
Dreiser,
Theodore, 1871-1945
Gump,
Richard, 1906-
Hemingway,
Ernest, 1899-1961
Kantor,
MacKinlay, 1904-1977
Lolli,
Giorgio, 1905-1979
Friede, Eleanor. Papers
of Eleanor Friede
Subjects:
Authors and
publishers
Publishers and
publishing--United States
Occupations:
Literary
agents
Publishers
Provenance: The papers of Donald Friede, publisher and literary
agent, were the gift of Friede's widow, Eleanor Kask Friede, in 1980.
Processing History:The papers of Donald Friede were arranged and described in 1991. The
finding aid was revised in 2007.
Copyright Status:The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Donald Friede
is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
Microfilm:A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on one reel.
Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning
availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.
Preferred Citation:Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the
following information: Container number, Donald Friede Papers, Manuscript
Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
| Date |
Event |
| 1901, May 12 |
Born, New York, N.Y. |
| 1901-ca. 1915 |
Lived in Europe and Japan |
| 1915 |
Returned to New York from Russia |
| ca. 1918 |
Expelled from Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. |
| 1919 |
Expelled from Yale University, New Haven, Conn. |
| 1920 |
Expelled from Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
Inherited fortune upon death of father
|
| 1920-1923 |
Held positions in the banking, tobacco, retail, locomotive
works, and message-exchange industries
|
| 1922 |
Married Grace Abrams (divorced 1923) |
| 1923 |
Stock clerk, Alfred A. Knopf publishing firm; left Knopf to
join Boni and Liveright publishing firm as an assistant
|
| 1925 |
Invested in Boni and Liveright; became first vice-president
Married Evelyn Johnson (divorced 1929)
|
| 1927 |
Arrested in Boston, Mass., on charges of selling an obscene
book to undercover police agents
|
| 1928 |
Withdrew investment in Boni and Liveright and left the
firm
Formed the publishing firm of Covici, Friede, Inc., in
partnership with Pascal Covici
|
| 1930 |
Married Anna Fleischer (divorced 1936) |
| 1936-1937 |
Story editor, Zeppo Marx Agency |
| ca. 1937 |
Covici, Friede, Inc., declared bankrupt in New York |
| ca. 1938 |
Married Carol Zerbe (divorced 1943) |
| 1940 |
Authored newspaper column about books for
The Hollywood Reporter
|
| 1940-1942 |
Story editor, Myron Selznick and Co. |
| 1942-1943 |
Served in United States Army in air corps and as intelligence
officer
|
| 1943-1947 |
Story editor, A & S Lyons |
| 1945 |
Married Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (divorced 1951) |
| 1947 |
Coauthored with H. Bedford-Jones (pseud. Donald F. Bedford)
John Barry, New York: Creative Age Press
|
| 1947-1948 |
Story editor, Ralph Blum Corp. |
| 1948 |
Published memoir,
The Mechanical Angel: His Adventures and Enterprises in the
Glittering 1920's, New York: A. A. Knopf
|
| 1950-1951 |
Literary agent for AFG Literary Agency; hosted television
show about books
|
| 1951 |
Married Eleanor Kask |
| 1952-1953 |
Coordinated "Centennial Editions" project for the Literary
Guild
Editor, World Publishing Co.
|
| 1963 |
Senior editor, Prentice-Hall |
| 1964 |
Senior editor, Doubleday and Co. |
| 1965, May 30 |
Died, Bridgehampton, Long Island, N.Y. |
The papers of Donald Sergey Friede (1901-1965) span the years
1919-1980, with the bulk from 1925 to 1965. Friede was an insider in the world
of publishing for several decades and published, represented, or associated
with influential and prize-winning authors. His father was a Russian immigrant
who served as Ford Motor Company's representative to Czarist Russia. Because
his father's business dealings required his family to move frequently, Friede
lived in several of the world's principal cities and toured the globe twice
before he was a teenager. As a result of his heritage and places of residence,
he was fluent in four languages and was well connected financially.
Friede married six times and divorced five. He was expelled from
Harvard, Yale, and Princeton universities and held nine different jobs in the
first three years after leaving Princeton in 1920. He cofounded a publishing
firm that went bankrupt, and he left numerous places of employment under
diffficult circumstances. Despite turmoil in his professional and personal
associations, Friede published or represented several well-known authors, among
them Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway, MacKinlay Kantor, Richard Gump, Ludwig
Bemelmans, and Giorgio Lolli.
Friede's career is well documented by these papers. The
Subject File contains
correspondence and related attachments and reports concerning his associations
with various authors and publishing firms. It is a professional file and
contains little of a personal nature. The
Writings
File contains newspaper columns, short stories, and book-length works by
Friede, both published and unpublished, with limited correspondence. The
Miscellany
File contains correspondence, daily activities diaries, passports, last
wills and testaments, photographs, and other documentation regarding Friede's
vital statistics, father, library, and death. This file also contains an
appraisal of the Friede Papers. Notes by Friede's widow explaining numerous
items have been placed with the materials that they describe.
Significant material related to Donald Friede is included in the
papers of MacKinlay Kantor available in the Manuscript Divison.
This collection is arranged in three series:
| Container |
Series |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BOX 1-3
|
|
|
Correspondence between Donald and Eleanor Friede and business
associates and clients, financial reports, newspaper clipping, and other
material regarding literary business conducted by Friede on a free-lance basis
or when associated with publishing firms.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by name of principal person or firm to
which the subject relates.
|
|
Correspondence dated 1942 between Ernest Hemingway and Friede
regarding motion picture adaptation of
For Whom the Bell Tolls is available on
microfilm.
|
|
| BOX 3-4
|
|
|
Published and unpublished newspaper columns, short stories, and
book-length works by Friede.
|
|
Arranged by type of material and thereunder alphabetically by
keyword of title.
|
|
| BOX 4-7
|
|
|
Address and telephone listings, daily activity diaries,
photographs, and other documentation regarding Friede's life, death, father,
and personal library.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material. |
| Container |
Contents |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| BOX 1-3
|
Subject File,
1925-1965,
n.d.
|
|
Correspondence between Donald and Eleanor Friede and business
associates and clients, financial reports, newspaper clipping, and other
material regarding literary business conducted by Friede on a free-lance basis
or when associated with publishing firms.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by name of principal person or firm to
which the subject relates.
|
|
Correspondence dated 1942 between Ernest Hemingway and Friede
regarding motion picture adaptation of
For Whom the Bell Tolls is available on
microfilm.
|
|
| BOX 1
|
A & S Lyons,
1944-1945
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Advertisement for free-lance
work,
1953, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 1
|
AFG Literary Agency,
1949-1951
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Ballet Mechanique,"
1927, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Bemelmans, Ludwig,
1959-1966, n.d.
|
|
(4
folders)
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Boni & Liveright,
1925-1930
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Brown, Ned,
1948-1949
|
|
| BOX 1
|
"Centennial Editions,"
1952-1954
|
|
| BOX 1
|
Correspondence, miscellaneous,
1933-1964
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Covici, Friede, Inc.,
1929-1938
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Doubleday and Co.,
1964
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Dreiser, Theodore,
1962-1965
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Gump, Richard,
1950-1965
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Harlow, Jean,
1960-1961
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Hemingway, Ernest,
1942-1944, 1965
|
|
Correspondence dated 1942 between Hemingway and Friede (typed
copies) regarding production of the movie
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1942), based on a novel
by Hemingway of the same title is available on microfilm. Shelf no. 18142.1
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Kantor, MacKinlay,
1944-1965
|
|
| BOX 2
|
"Let's Look at Books" (television
program),
1950-1951
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Lolli, Giorgio,
1958-1964
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Maugham, W. Somerset,
1943
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Maximilian Becker AFG Literary
Agency
See AFG Literary
Agency |
|
| BOX 2
|
"A Plan for Publishers,"
1948-1949
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Prentice-Hall,
1963-1964, n.d.
|
|
| BOX 2
|
Ralph Blum Corp.,
1947-1949
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Roosevelt, Eleanor,
1959
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Volkening, Henry,
1946-1950
|
|
| BOX 3
|
World Publishing Co.,
1953-1964
|
|
| BOX 3-4
|
Writings,
n.d.
|
|
Published and unpublished newspaper columns, short stories, and
book-length works by Friede.
|
|
Arranged by type of material and thereunder alphabetically by
keyword of title.
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Book-length works |
|
| BOX 3
|
John Barry
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Life in the Twenties
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Mechanical Angel
|
|
| BOX 3
|
Yesterday's Rebels
|
|
| BOX 4
|
Newspaper column, "Of Books and
Writers"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
Short stories |
|
| BOX 4
|
"The Answer is Yes"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
"The Art of Table-Hopping"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
"Fat Boy Series" |
|
| BOX 4
|
"The Rape of Television"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
"This, My Country" |
|
| BOX 4
|
"Three Meals a Day"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
"Wrinkles in Their Bellies"
|
|
| BOX 4
|
Untitled |
|
| BOX 4-7
|
Miscellany File,
1919-1980,
n.d.
|
|
Address and telephone listings, daily activity diaries,
photographs, and other documentation regarding Friede's life, death, father,
and personal library.
|
|
Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material. |
|
| BOX 4
|
Address and telephone listings,
1949-1965
|
|
| BOX 4
|
Daily activity
diaries
|
|
| BOX 4
|
1949, 1951-1952
|
|
| BOX 5
|
1953-1957, 1959
|
|
| BOX 6
|
1960-1965
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Undated
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Death, obituaries and
condolences,
1965
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Friede, Marcus Sergey (father),
including newspaper clippings, biography, passport, and certificate of
naturalization,
1919-1921
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Gift of papers to the Library of
Congress,
1980
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Library, personal,
1928
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Personal documents,
1901-1965
|
|
| BOX 7
|
Photographs,
ca. 1925-1965
|
|
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