Ida Frances Stelov (December 31, 1887 – April 15, 1989), better known asFanny Steloff, was the founder of theGotham Book Mart inNew York City, a center foravant-garde literature and literati from 1920 until it closed in 2007.[1]
Ida Frances Stelov was born to a poor family inSaratoga Springs, New York on December 31, 1887. Her mother died when she was young, and at 12 she was taken in by a couple who offered her a home. She dropped out of school in the seventh grade. At the age of 19, she moved to New York where she worked at Loeser's, a department store. She then worked in several bookstores, and in 1920 founded the Gotham Book Mart.[2]
She challenged government censorship, ordering smuggled copies ofHenry Miller'sTropic of Cancer in the 1930s and purchasing shipments ofD. H. Lawrence's banned bookLady Chatterley's Lover in the late 1920s.[2] She founded the James Joyce Society at the store in 1947.[3]
According to its writerRobbie Robertson, the line "Take a load off, Fanny" in his well known song "The Weight" was inspired by Steloff, whose bookstore he visited.[4]
Steloff married David Moss in 1923. They divorced in 1930.[2]
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