Alfred A. Knopf photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, March 31, 1935

Alfred A. Knopf (September 12, 1892 – August 11, 1984) was a leading American publisher of the 20th century, founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and (of the previous generation) Frank Nelson Doubleday, J. Henry Harper and Henry Holt. Knopf received an L.H.D. from Bates College in 1971. Image File history File links Alfred_A._Knopf. ... Image File history File links Alfred_A._Knopf. ... Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ... Photographic self-portrait by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Carl Van Vechten (June 17, 1880 – December 21, 1964) was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. ... Portal:Currentevents September 12 is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ... Bennett Cerf on Whats My Line?, 1962 Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971) was a publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances... Frank Nelson Doubleday (January 30, 1862–January 8, 1934), known to friends and family as “Effendi”, was a famous U.S. publisher. ... Holt, Rinehart and Winston, somethimes abbreviated as HRW or referred to as Holt, is an Austin, Texas based publishing company, that specializes in textbooks for use in secondary schools. ... For other uses, see Bates (disambiguation), Bates (surname) Bates College is a private liberal arts college, founded in 1855, located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. ...

Born in New York City, Knopf worked through the ranks at Doubleday (1912–14), before founding his own publishing house in 1915. Knopf emphasized translations of great contemporary European literature, at that time neglected by American publishers. He published authors such as D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster , Albert Camus, Sigmund Freud, and Franz Kafka. He also paid special attention to the quality of printing, binding, and design. His colophon was the borzoi dog.

Knopf's firm remained independent until 1960, when he sold it to Random House, Inc., world's largest publisher of English-language trade books. Random House itself became a division of Bertelsmann AG, a large multinational media company. The Knopf imprint remains in existence.

Asked how to say his name, Knopf told The Literary Digest: "Sound the k: k'nupf." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.) The Literary Digest was an influential general-interest magazine in the early 20th century United States. ...