Adrienne Monnier (1892–1955)

When 23-year-old Adrienne Monnier opened her bookshop and lending library in the Latin Quarter in Paris called "La Maison des Amis des Livres" in 1915, she was one of the first independent woman booksellers in France. She and her shop provided a focal point for an international group of writers and artists. Le Navire d'Argent (The Silver Ship), the literary magazine she founded in 1925, published the works in French translation of T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, and many other important British and American authors, which helped make their work known to more readers. She also published the photographs of Gisèle Freund in book form. Adrienne assisted Sylvia Beach in establishing her own bookstore, Shakespeare & Co., and the two women lived together for many years.