Albert Boni
Albert Boni | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 31, 1981 (aged 88) |
| Occupation(s) | Publisher, inventor |
| Known for | Co-founder of Boni & Liveright; pioneer of microprint technology; founder of Readex Microprint Corporation |
Albert Boni (October 21, 1892 – July 31, 1981) was a co-founder of the publishing firm Boni & Liveright and played a significant role in the development of paperbacks and book clubs.
Biography
Born in 1892 into a Jewish family in New York City, Boni relocated early to Newark, where he completed his secondary education at Barringer High School. He pursued higher education for two years at Cornell University followed by one year at Harvard University. Rather than completing his degree at Harvard, Boni convinced his father to invest in the Washington Square Bookshop, initially located at 95 Fifth Avenue and later moved to 135 MacDougal Street, which he operated alongside his brother Charles. This bookstore became a gathering place for left-leaning writers and intellectuals in Greenwich Village. Along with partners, the Boni brothers initiated the successful Little Leather Library, a series of compact literary classics widely distributed through Woolworth outlets. They also published the brief-lived literary periodical The Glebe (1913–14) and contributed to the establishment of the Washington Square Players in 1914. The brothers sold their bookstore in 1915.
In 1917, Boni wed Cornelia 'Nell' van Leeuwen and adopted her son. With financial support from paper industry executive Herman Elsas, Boni partnered with Horace Liveright to form the publishing company Boni & Liveright on February 16, 1917. This enterprise introduced the notable Modern Library series, funded by Felix M. Warburg and their uncle Thomas Seltzer. Boni divested his stake to Liveright in 1919; however, the company name "Boni & Liveright" was retained until 1928.
From 1920 to 1925, both Boni brothers inscribed their names on The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door, now housed at the Harry Ransom Center. In 1923, they acquired Lieber & Lewis and rebranded it as the "Albert and Charles Boni Publishing Company," followed by the purchase of their uncle Thomas Seltzer’s publishing firm in 1926. In 1929, they launched Boni Paper Books, a subscription-based softcover book service priced at $5 per year; this venture ultimately failed during the economic downturn of the Great Depression. In 1939, Albert Boni founded the Readex Microprint Corporation, focusing on microfilm reference materials. Upon retiring in 1974, his son William took over as president of Readex. Boni passed away in Florida in 1981, survived by his wife, son, and three granddaughters.
Microprint
Although microphotography existed before, it was Boni who pioneered microprint technology in 1934. Inspired by his friend Manuel Komroff—a writer and editor experimenting with photo enlargement—Boni realized that shrinking photographs could enable publishers and libraries to store information more efficiently and cost-effectively. Over the following decade, he perfected microprint: a micro-opaque technique that involved photographing pages on 35mm microfilm and reproducing them on cards through offset lithography. This process yielded 6" by 9" index cards capable of containing approximately 100 pages of text from typical publications. To manufacture and license this innovation, Boni established Readex Microprint. He also authored A Guide to the Literature of Photography and Related Subjects (1943), released as a supplement to the Photo-Lab Index.