Walter Goldwater
Walter Goldwater | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 July 1907 Harlem, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 24 June 1985 (aged 77) |
| Occupation(s) | Antiquarian bookseller, publisher, chess player |
| Known for | Founder of University Place Book Shop; founding member and publisher of Dissent magazine; competitive chess player |
Walter Goldwater (July 29, 1907 – June 24, 1985) was an American dealer in antiquarian books who, following a short period at International Publishers, established the University Place Book Shop in Manhattan’s notable "Book Row" area. He was a founding member and publisher of Dissent magazine and also gained recognition as a competitive chess player.
Background
Born on July 29, 1907, in Harlem, New York, Walter Goldwater was the son of Dr. Abraham Goldwater, a radical figure associated with leading black activists such as W. E. B. DuBois. After beginning his higher education at the City College of New York, he completed his degree at the University of Michigan in 1927.
Career
Goldwater started his professional life in clerical roles before joining International Publishers in 1930, which was the foremost communist publishing house in the United States under the leadership of Alexander Trachtenberg.
In 1931, Goldwater and his wife Ethel traveled to Moscow, where they contributed to founding the Cooperative Publishing Society of Foreign Workers and served as translators and editors. Due to his critical views of Stalin, they encountered difficulties with Soviet authorities and returned to New York by early 1932.
With financial support of $600 from his uncle Jack Biblo, owner of Biblo & Tannen bookstore, Goldwater launched University Place Book Shop in 1932 at 821 Broadway near 12th Street within "Book Row." The shop focused on literature from Africa, African-American authors, and Caribbean works, as well as used, rare, and antiquarian books. Additional areas of expertise included chess, Russian topics, and radical political literature.
In 1933, Arthur Spingarn—brother to NAACP co-founder Joel Spingarn—initiated a standing order for titles by African-American writers.
Around 1932 or 1933, Whittaker Chambers approached Goldwater with a proposal to open a bookstore close to Columbia University intended as a rendezvous point for Communist underground operatives. The Communist Party USA declined this plan due to concerns about Goldwater’s proficiency in Russian.
Goldwater purchased approximately ten thousand issues of "little magazines" such as Bibelot, Black Cat, Yellow Book, and Philistine from Pratt bookshop and sold them to academic institutions including Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
As a co-founder of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, he amassed a collection of printed works dating back to the 15th century.
By December 1945, Goldwater was active in the Friday Evening Discussion group associated with Dwight Macdonald's politics journal alongside anti-Stalinist intellectuals like Hannah Arendt, William Barrett, among others.
Prior to 1967, he maintained connections with the Socialist Workers Party and Workers Party.
From 1949 through 1969, Goldwater served as literary agent for C. L. R. James. In 1950, he published a new edition of W. E. B. DuBois's Black Reconstruction.
In 1954, alongside Irving Howe and others, he co-founded and funded Dissent magazine, overseeing its publication for fifteen years. By 1967, he openly criticized Howe’s editorial approach that supported the Vietnam War and opposed anti-war activism.
Goldwater was also a collector and scholar of Incunabula, with his collection later auctioned by Swann Galleries shortly before his passing.
Personal life and death
Goldwater was married to Eleanor Lowenstein, an antiquarian who specialized in cookbooks and operated the Corner Book Shop; she passed away in 1980. Together, they had two children.
He and his acquaintance Dwight Macdonald served as inspirations for characters in Mary McCarthy's 1949 novel The Oasis. An accomplished chess enthusiast, Goldwater participated in tournaments held in New York and held the position of president at the Marshall Chess Club located in Greenwich Village. Among his notable games was a loss to champion Bobby Fischer.
In his later years, Goldwater played a key role in securing manuscripts and collections related to labor and left-wing movements for academic institutions, with particular emphasis on the Tamiment Library at New York University. In 1993, he provided an extensive interview for the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook, detailing his experiences within the New York bookselling community.
Legacy
Goldwater's will entrusted the University Place Book Shop to William French, a dedicated employee who had been with the store since 1960 and managed it from 1985 until 1988. French contributed volumes to both the New York Public Library and its Schomburg Center. The bookstore ultimately ceased operations in 1995 due to escalating expenses and $64,000 in outstanding rent. The remaining stock was acquired by New York University.
Works
- Radical Periodicals in America, 1890–1950: With a Genealogical Chart and a Concise Lexicon of the Parties and Groups which Issued Them: A Bibliography with Brief Notes (1964; 2nd ed. 1966; 3rd ed. 1977), documenting over 300 periodicals
- "New York City Bookshops in the 1930s and 1940s: The Recollections of Walter Goldwater", Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook (1993)