Edward Titus

Edward Titus was another expatriate American journalist living in Paris. He was ‘the husband of Helena Rubenstein, the rich beautician’ (Callaghan 1963) whom he married in 1908 whilst living in London. Having left London for America at the dawn of World War I, it wasn’t until the Great War was over in 1918 that they returned to Paris. Titus was the founder of the publishing company Black Manikin Press and on his return he began publishing authors, such as, D. H. Lawrence. In 1924, he opened a bookshop which he named ‘At the Sign of the Black Manikin’, and fellow expatriates and writers often used it as a rendezvous. By 1929, Titus was the chief editors of This Quarter. Unfortunately, the press and the magazine stopped printing in 1932. Five years later in 1937, he got divorced to Rubenstein and it was suggested that this was due to her obsession with her career.

Titus had grown tired of the busy life involved with running the cosmetic firm with Rubenstein and chose to live on his own on the Rue Delambre (see places section of website). He would often go to meet Callaghan and Loretto at the Cafe Select (see places). Sometimes Rubenstein would join them and an amusing scene of who would pay the tab would ensue, as Titus who ‘was an old resident of the Quarter...seemed to know that if he ever gave in and picked up the tab just because he was rich, he would lose all caste with the people whose respect he wanted’ (Callaghan 1963). This rule of Titus’ is broken in a situation out of his control where Robert McAlmon after becoming exceedingly inebriated causes a commotion in Cafe Select and has to make a hasty retreat into a taxi to avoid being sick, leaving Titus to foot the bill. Despite being a prominent figure in the Parisian Left Bank, Titus had never formally met with Joyce, Pound, Wyndham Lewis, Hemingway, Fitzgerald or McAlmon and Callaghan ponders whether it is due to a sentiment of anti-semitism. However, through Callaghan Titus has the calamitous encounter with McAlmon and later meets with Hemingway who intends to write an introduction to Kiki’s Memoirs.

References: http://findingaids.library.emory.edu/documents/titus1175/

http://sites.davidson.edu/littlemagazines/this-quarter-description/

Callaghan, Morley. That Summer in Paris: Memories of Friendships with Ernest Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, 1963. http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/bio/callaghan-thatsum.html