May Lamberton Becker
Encyclopedia
May Lamberton Becker was a journalist and literary critic. She was born in New York and at the age of 20 she married the pianist and composer Gustave A. Becker in 1893. Their only daughter Beatrice
was born September 20, 1900. By 1908 the marriage had broken up and later ended in divorce. She died at her daughter's house, in Epsom, Surrey, England, in April 1958, aged 84.
May Lamberton Becker made her name as a literary critic and for more than forty years wrote a weekly 'Readers Guide', first with the New York Evening Post, then with the Saturday Review of Literature and finally in the weekly book section of the New York Herald Tribune, of which she later became literary editor. She was well-known as a lecturer on literature and drama. She wrote a number of introductions for the Rainbow Classics series of children's books and after the move of her daughter to England in 1927 she was a frequent visitor and wrote a number of 'Letters from London' for her newspaper. At the end of her life was an occasional contributor to The Times Literary Supplement.
She was very pro-Britain, at a time when America and most Americans were neutral at the start of the Second World War. Her American royalties from Introducing Charles Dickens (written in the first year of the War) paid for the 'Charles Dickens' ambulance for use in London, and her British royalties were spent on welfare projects there.
She was an active participant in Books Across the Sea
of which her daughter was chairman. This was founded in 1942 to import specimen copies of new books from America and export British ones, at a time when the commercial traffic of new books had stopped because of lack of shipping space.
In May 1960 T. S. Eliot
dedicated the reading room of the National Book League, Albemarle Street, London, to her memory,"in gratitude for her inspiration and friendly guidance". The work was funded and furnished by British and American friends and admirers, (though the principal donor was her daughter).
Beatrice Warde
Beatrice Warde , was a communicator on typography. She was the only daughter of May Lamberton Becker, a journalist on the staff of the New York Herald Tribune, and Gustave Becker, composer and teacher.Beatrice was educated at Barnard College at Columbia University...
was born September 20, 1900. By 1908 the marriage had broken up and later ended in divorce. She died at her daughter's house, in Epsom, Surrey, England, in April 1958, aged 84.
May Lamberton Becker made her name as a literary critic and for more than forty years wrote a weekly 'Readers Guide', first with the New York Evening Post, then with the Saturday Review of Literature and finally in the weekly book section of the New York Herald Tribune, of which she later became literary editor. She was well-known as a lecturer on literature and drama. She wrote a number of introductions for the Rainbow Classics series of children's books and after the move of her daughter to England in 1927 she was a frequent visitor and wrote a number of 'Letters from London' for her newspaper. At the end of her life was an occasional contributor to The Times Literary Supplement.
She was very pro-Britain, at a time when America and most Americans were neutral at the start of the Second World War. Her American royalties from Introducing Charles Dickens (written in the first year of the War) paid for the 'Charles Dickens' ambulance for use in London, and her British royalties were spent on welfare projects there.
She was an active participant in Books Across the Sea
Books Across the Sea
Books Across the Sea was a cultural and literary movement begun in 1940 as the result of the stopping of the transatlantic trade in printed books...
of which her daughter was chairman. This was founded in 1942 to import specimen copies of new books from America and export British ones, at a time when the commercial traffic of new books had stopped because of lack of shipping space.
In May 1960 T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
dedicated the reading room of the National Book League, Albemarle Street, London, to her memory,"in gratitude for her inspiration and friendly guidance". The work was funded and furnished by British and American friends and admirers, (though the principal donor was her daughter).