New Directions Publishers was founded in 1936 by James Laughlin after graduating from Harvard University. The company was incorporated in 1964 as the New Directions Publishing Corporation and continues to operate from New York City. It once specialized in inexpensive pocket-sized volumes with distinctive black-and-white covers. The Press initially focused on publishing ignored and influential writers, these eventually included the likes of William Carlos Williams, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Henry Miller, Thomas Merton, Kenneth Patchen, Kenneth Rexroth, Delmore Schwartz, Dylan Thomas, Ezra Pound, and Tennessee Williams. Also a significant effort was made publish selected experimental writing and on bringing classics back into print. It made history by publishing quality translations of foreign literature, notable authors included Hermann Hesse. James Laughlin was an American poet, publisher, and man of letters. ... Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York and abbreviated NYC) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, communications, music, fashion, and culture. ... William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with Modernism. ... Lawrence Ferlinghetti Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born March 24, 1919) is a poet who is best known as the co-owner of the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house, which published early literary works of the Beat Generation, including Jack Kerouac, Kenneth Rexroth and Allen Ginsberg. ... Henry Miller (December 26, 1891, New York City – June 7, 1980, Pacific Palisades, California), was an American novelist, whose novel Tropic of Cancer led to a series of controversial obscenity trials in the United States—testing the pornography laws of the time. ... Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk and author, born in Prades in the Pyrénées-Orientales departement of France to an American mother and an artist father from New Zealand. ... Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911 - January 8, 1972) was an American poet and painter. ... American poet and translator Kenneth Rexroth (December 22, 1905 – June 6, 1982) was among the first poets in the United States to explore Japanese poetry traditions such as haiku. ... Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 - 1966) was an American poet from Brooklyn, New York. ... Dylan Marlais Thomas, (Swansea, October 27, 1914 – November 9, 1953 in New York City) was a Welsh poet and writer. ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ... Thomas Lanier Williams (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the pen name Tennessee Williams, was a noted playwright. ... Hermann Hesse Hermann Hesse (July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) was a German author, and the winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize in literature. ...

New Directions Publishing Corporation is considedred one of the most distinguished literary publishers in the U.S.

Sources:

1. Laughlin,James Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.

2. New Directions Publishing Corp. Records: Guide. Houghton Library, Harvard College Library Records of New Directions Publishing Corporation largely from the Norfolk, Connecticut office of the founder, James Laughlin, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 © 2000 The President and Fellows of Harvard College. Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University. Call No.: MS Am 2077. Date(s): ca. 1933-1997.