Theodore Stanton: An American Editor, Syndicator, and Literary Agent in Paris, 1880-1920

Theodore Stanton’s career as a literary middleman exemplifies several of the intermediary professions in book and periodical publishing that were being created and tested in the late nineteenth century in response to expanded publishing opportunities in France, Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. The need for professional middlemen between writers and publishers developed differently in each country, thus their roles and activities, the literary agent’s in particular, varied according to regional demands. Different interpretations of intellectual property in copyright laws determined the balance of power between creators and producers of texts. In turn, writers’ relative ability to control copyrights shaped the middleman’s field of endeavour. The range of professional middleman specializations is described. A case study of some American publications of Émile Zola’s novels shows the legal and logistical difficulties of transatlantic publishing in practice. In chapter 3, Stanton’s beginnings as an American newspaper correspondent in Paris precede his middleman role as editor of the European Correspondent, a weekly galley-proof service printed in English in Paris and syndicated to American newspaper editors. Stanton’s work as a European sub-editor of the North American Review and other magazines is detailed in chapter 4. As the Paris representative of Harper & Brothers from 1899, Stanton presented previously unpublished writings of Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, and others to American readers, also co-operating with French publishers. Case studies portray the challenges and successes of a middleman position within a large, complex enterprise. In chapter 5, a more independent Stanton arranges the simultaneous, posthumous publication of the memoirs of Eugénie, ex-Empress of France, by D. Appleton and Company in New York and London, and in four European translations. Count Maurice Fleury compiled and authored the two-volume work, which was not published in France. The manuscript took a circuitous path to publication through Stanton’s efforts to ensure authenticity, maintain exclusivity, and protect copyright. Methodological approaches of correspondence editing, bibliography, and textual criticism reveal both the processes and the results of Stanton’s mediation and illuminate how the participation of literary middlemen shaped the way French culture was received and understood in North America.Ph