“We are not superwomen”: Navigating Finances, Identity Politics, and Vision of a Feminist Press

Introduction to Documents 1 and 2: “Unbusinesslike” Conduct   |   Document 1      |     Document 2
Introduction to Documents 3 and 4    |     Document 3: Feminist Publishing Ethics    |     Document 4: Women in Print Publishing Accords
Document 5: Feminist Publishing Proposal From Ruth to Barbara
Introduction to Documents 6, 7, and 8: Seal Books   |    Document 6     |    Document 7     |     Document 8
Document 9: Women Who Dared    |     Document 10: “Cheat to Eat”
Introduction to Documents 11 and 12: Hate Mail      |     Document 11       |    Document 12
Document 13: Outreach to Women of Color        |       Document 14: Letter to Angela Davis      |     Document 15: Letter from Audre Lorde      |    Document 16: “No More ‘Social Problems’ Projects”
Bibliography

Document 7

Author: Barbara Wilson

Recipient: Heather Grant Florence

Date: 26 March 1985

Document Type: Typed Letter, Signed by Author

Location: Series II, Box 1, File 14: Bantam Correspondence, Seal Press, Oberlin College Special Collections

 

Original                       Both                    Transcription

 

bantam letter

Transcription:

[Letterhead: The Seal Press]

March 26, 1985

Heather Grant Florence

Vice President

Bantam Books Inc

666 Fifth Ave

New York NY 10103

Dear Ms. Florence,

In answer to your inquiry of March 19, The Seal Press has been registered as a corporation in Washington state since February, 1977. We have consistently done business under this name, publishing over thirty books, many of which have been reviewed in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and the Village Voice. We have received five grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and are well regarded as a viable small feminist publisher. I am surprised you have not heard of us before.

Sincerely,

Barbara Wilson

Transcribed by Natalia Shevin