About us
Agency History
Paul Reynolds
In 1893 Paul Reynolds was told by his parents that he could not hang around Harvard any longer but had to get down to New York and earn a living. He did that first by helping friends such as William James from Harvard place their work for publication, then by accepting a few other writers who heard about his services. In short order he established the first literary agency in this country. His son, Paul Jr. joined him in 1924.
Paul Reynolds Jr
Paul Reynolds, Jr. was one of the founders of the SAR, the trade group that later became the Association of Authors Representatives, a group of which we are all dedicated members. Perhaps one day we can include just for fun a letter that Paul Reynolds Sr. had printed and circulated to all of his clients in the late 1930`s. The letter was dated March 29, 1939, and ended with the prophetic and now chilling words: “It is a matter of guesswork but barring a World War I think 1939 should on the whole be a slightly more profitable year for writers than 1938.”
John Hawkins & Associates
Until the 1940`s the business was almost exclusively with magazines, since authors could not earn a living from books– and the senior Paul Reynolds had no interest in counting those pesky royalty statements. (On the other hand, imagine what a check for $30,000 from Colliers Magazine meant to P.G.Wodehouse at the depth of the depression in 1933!) In 1940 Samuel Shellabarger`s CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE and Richard Wright`s NATIVE SON proved that books could support authors and our business changed accordingly. John Hawkins joined the firm in 1966, and took over the management of the business in 1979 when Paul Reynolds retired. The history of the firm is coupled with that of publishing and agenting in this country, beyond the fact that we were the first.