Editing Harry Crosby (section)

==Legacy==
Crosby as a poet was never more than a minor literary figure while he lived, and was remembered more for his scandalous suicide over his creative efforts. He has greater importance as a co-founder of the Black Sun Press,<ref name=keene/> which Caresse continued to operate after his death. She also established, with Jacques Porel, a side venture, Crosby Continental Editions, that published paperback books by Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and [[Dorothy Parker]], among others. The paperback books did not sell well, and Crosby Continental closed in 1933. The Black Sun Press, however, continued publishing into the 1950s.<ref name="Conover"/> The Black Sun Press produced finely crafted books in small editions, including works by, among others, D. H. Lawrence, Archibald MacLeish, James Joyce, Kay Boyle, and Hart Crane.<ref name="artunderwraps.com"/>

Crosby's friend Crane committed suicide less than two years later. Malcolm Cowley, whom Crosby had published, wrote in his 1934 book ''Exile's Return'', that the death of "Harry Crosby becomes a symbol" of the rise and fall of the [[Jazz Age]].<ref name="kicks"/> He recited the excesses typified by Crosby's extravagant lifestyle as evidence of the shallowness of society during that era.<ref name=kicks/> When he edited and reissued the book in 1951, he softened his opinion of Crosby somewhat. "I had written at length about the life of Harry Crosby, who I scarcely know," he wrote, "in order to avoid discussing the more recent death of Hart Crane, whom I know so well that I couldn't bear to write about him."<ref>{{Cite book|first=Malcolm |last= Cowley |title=Exile's Return: A Narrative of Ideas |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=1934}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Malcolm |last= Cowley |title=Exile's Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920s |location=New York |publisher=Viking |year=1951}}</ref>

In 1931, Caresse also published ''Torchbearer'', a collection of his poetry with an afterword by Ezra Pound, and ''Aphrodite in Flight'', a 75-paragraph-long prose-poem and how-to manual for lovers that compared making love to a woman to flying planes. Caresse published a boxed set of Crosby's work titled ''Collected poems of Harry Crosby'' containing ''[[Chariot of the Sun]]'' with D. H. Lawrence's introduction, ''[[Transit of Venus]]'' with T. S. Eliot's introduction, ''Sleeping Together'' with [[Stuart Gilbert]]'s introduction, and ''Torchbearer'' in 1931. It was hand-set in dorique type; only 50 copies were printed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://openlibrary.org/b/OL17460511M/Collected_poems_of_Harry_Crosby.|title=Collected poems of Harry Crosby|ol=17460511M |access-date=18 March 2010}}</ref>

During 1931 and 1932, Caresse collaborated with Harry's mother Henrietta to publish letters he had written to his family while serving in France from the summer of 1917 until he returned home in 1919. Henrietta added a chronology and brief preface to the letters. The book ''War Letters'' was published in a unnumbered edition of 125 copies. {{asof|2015}}, a leather-bound edition of the book was priced from $2,000<ref>{{cite web|title=WAR LETTERS. Crosby, Harry|url=http://www.williamreesecompany.com/shop/reeseco/WRCLIT64381.html|publisher=William Reese Company|access-date=15 June 2015}}</ref> to $3,500.<ref>{{cite book|title=War letters Leather Bound – 1932|date=January 1932 |publisher=Black Sun Press |url=https://www.amazon.com/letters-Henry-Grew-Harry-Crosby/dp/B000867E8C|access-date=15 June 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305024724/http://www.amazon.com/letters-Henry-Grew-Harry-Crosby/dp/B000867E8C|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref>

Caresse Crosby edited and published Crosby's diaries and papers. She wrote and published ''Poems for Harry Crosby'' in 1931. She also published and translated some of the works of Hemingway, Faulkner, and Dorothy Parker, among others. The Black Sun Press enjoyed the greatest longevity among the several expatriate presses founded in Paris during the 1920s. Through 1936, it published nearly three times as many titles as did Edward Titus through his Black Manikin Press.<ref name=fitch/>

Books printed by the Black Sun Press are valued by collectors. Each book was hand-designed, beautifully printed, and illustrated with elegant typeface. A rare volume published by the Black Sun Press of Hart Crane's book-length poem ''[[The Bridge (long poem)|The Bridge]]'', including photos by [[Walker Evans]], was sold by [[Christie's]] in 2009 for US$21,250.<ref name="allis"/> In 2009, Neil Pearson, an antiquarian books expert, said "A Black Sun book is the literary equivalent of a [[Georges Braque|Braque]] or a [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]] painting—except it's a few thousand pounds, not 20 million."<ref name=lyle>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5549090/The-Crosbys-literatures-most-scandalous-couple.html|title=The Crosbys: literature's most scandalous couple|last=Lyle|first=Peter|date=19 Jun 2009|publisher=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=29 March 2010|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328150702/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5549090/The-Crosbys-literatures-most-scandalous-couple.html|archive-date=28 March 2010}}</ref>

''Ladders to the Sun: Poems by Harry Crosby'', a collection of Harry Crosby's poetry, was published by Soul Bay Press in April 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soulbaypress.com/06ladderstothesun.html |title=Ladders to the Sun |access-date=October 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330031616/http://www.soulbaypress.com/06ladderstothesun.html |archive-date=March 30, 2012 }}</ref>

In 2004, [[Fine Line Features]] optioned Andrea Berloff's first screenplay ''Harry and Caresse.''<ref>{{cite web|last=Mohr|first=Ian|title=Fine Line Options Berloff's 'harry'|url=http://www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4897926-1.html|publisher=all Business|access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref> [[Lasse Hallström]] was initially attached to direct<ref>{{cite web|title=Hallstrom caressing 'Caresse'.(Lasse Hallstrom is negotiating to direct and produce 'Harry and Caresse' for Fine Line Features)(|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-112019851.html|publisher=Daily Variety|access-date=17 October 2011|date=December 11, 2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523042801/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-112019851.html|archive-date=23 May 2013}}</ref> and [[Leslie Holleran]] was attached as a producer.<ref>{{cite web|last=Brodesser|first=Claude|title=Hallstrom caressing 'Caresse'|url=http://www.benderspink.com/data/173-press.pdf|date=December 10, 2003|access-date=17 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105124800/http://www.benderspink.com/data/173-press.pdf|archive-date=5 January 2012}}</ref>