Private company

Black Sun Press

English-language publisher in France (1927–1970)

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1927Founded¹

Industryprinting¹
HeadquartersParis¹
Founded inParis¹

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The Black Sun Press was an English-language press noted for publishing the early works of many modernist writers including Hart Crane, D. H. Lawrence, Archibald MacLeish, Ernest Hemingway, and Eugene Jolas. It enjoyed the greatest longevity among the several expatriate presses founded in Paris during the 1920s, publishing nearly three times as many titles as did Edward Titus under his Black Manikin Press. American expatriates living in Paris, Harry Crosby and his wife Caresse Crosby (American inventor of the modern bra) founded the press to publish their own work in April 1927 as Éditions Narcisse. They added to that in 1928 when they printed a limited edition of 300 numbered copies of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe. They enjoyed the reception their initial work received, and decided to expand the press to serve other authors, renaming the company the Black Sun Press, following on Harry's obsession on the symbolism of the sun.²

The story

Founded by Caresse Crosby and Harry Crosby in 1927, in Paris.¹

On the evening of December 10, 1929, Harry was a no-show for dinner before the theater. Caresse called their friend Stanley Mortimer, whose studio Harry was known to use for his trysts. Stanley found Harry and Josephine's bodies. Harry had a.25 caliber bullet hole in his right temple and lay with his arm around Josephine, who had a matching hole in her left temple, in what appeared to be a suicide pact.

From Wikipedia’s article on Black Sun Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Leadership

Who has led Black Sun Press, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

FounderCaresse Crosby¹
FounderHarry Crosby¹

Controversies and legal

Scandal follows

The next day the headlines revealed all: Tragedy and Disgrace. As Josephine had died at least two hours before Harry, and there was no suicide note, newspapers ran articles for many days speculating about the murder or suicide pact. The New York Times front page blared, "COUPLE SHOT DEAD IN ARTISTS' HOTEL; Suicide Compact Is Indicated Between Henry Grew Crosby and Harvard Man's Wife. BUT MOTIVE IS UNKNOWN He Was Socially Prominent in Boston—Bodies Found in Friend's Suite." The New York newspapers decided it was a murder-suicide.

Harry's poetry possibly gave the best clue to his motives. Death was "the hand that opens the door to our cage the home we instinctively fly to." His manner of death mortified proper Boston society.

From Wikipedia’s article on Black Sun Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Timeline

1970Dissolved Dissolved¹
1927Founded Founded in Paris¹

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataBlack Sun Press on Wikidata
2
WikipediaBlack Sun Press on Wikipedia
3
WikipediaBlack Sun Press on Wikipedia (revision used)