Gustav Davidson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1895-12-25)December 25, 1895 |
| Died | February 6, 1971(1971-02-06) (aged 75) Santa Cruz, California, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia University (BA,MA) |
| Occupations | Poet, writer, publisher |
Gustav Davidson (December 25, 1895 – February 6, 1971) was an American poet, writer, and publisher.[1][2] He was a one-time secretary of thePoetry Society of America.
Gustav Davidson was born on December 25, 1895, inWarsaw, Prussia (now Poland). In the wake of anti-Jewish pogroms in Prussia, his family fled to the United States, settling in New York City in 1907. Davidson received bachelor's and master's degrees atColumbia University in 1919 and 1920 respectively.[3] He worked for theLibrary of Congress between 1938 and 1939 and became executive secretary of the Poetry Society of America from 1949 to 1965 (after which he was elected executive secretary emeritus).[4][5]
He is today best remembered as the author ofA Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels (1967), a popular work detailing the types ofangel classes and their roles. This was a popularised compendium ofangelology fromTalmud,kabbalah, medieval occult writers, gothic grimoires and other sources. He also wrote articles, such as on encounters with angels, in the parapsychologicalTomorrow magazine of mediumEileen J. Garrett.[6]
In addition to theDictionary, Davidson published several collections of his poems, includingSongs of Adoration (1919),Twenty Sonnets (1926),Lilith (1928),Mortal Hunger (1943),Thirst of the Antelope (1945),Moment of Visitation (1950),Ambushed by Angels & Other Poems (1965), andAll Things Are Holy (1970). He wrote a dramatic adaptation ofMelmoth the Wanderer in collaboration with playwright Joseph Koven. As the titles of some of his works indicate, much of Davidson's verse is religious and spiritual in outlook and subject matter.
Davidson editedA Half Century of Sonnets (1924), and the 1950 collectionIn Fealty to Apollo for thePoetry Society of America, an organization for which he served as secretary. (The society established a Gustav Davidson Memorial Award in his honor.) He also edited periodicals devoted to poetry:The Poetry Chapbook andPoet Lore: A Quarterly of World Literature. He headed Fine Editions Press and established and ran the Davidson Printing Corporation, both of which specialized in the publication of contemporary poetry.
Beyond the confines of poetry, Davidson wroteFirst Editions in American Juvenilia and Problems in Their Identification (1939) and other works on bibliography andbook collecting. He was also active as a translator and a book designer.
