Caresse Crosby

Caresse Crosby
Caresse Crosby and her whippet, Clytoris
Born	(1891-04-20)April 20, 1891 New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Died	January 26, 1970(1970-01-26) (aged 78) Rome, Italy
Occupation	Publisher, activist, writer
Nationality	American
Spouse	Richard R. Peabody Harry Crosby Selbert Young
Children	William Jacob Polly ("Poleen")

Caresse Crosby (born Mary Phelps Jacob; April 20, 1891 – January 26, 1970) was the first recipient of a patent for the modern bra, an American patron of the arts, publisher, and the "literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate writers in Paris." She and her second husband, Harry Crosby, founded the Black Sun Press, which was instrumental in publishing early works of many authors who would later become famous, including Ernest Hemingway, Archibald MacLeish, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Kay Boyle, Charles Bukowski, Hart Crane, and Robert Duncan.

Crosby's parents, William Hearn Jacob and Mary (née Phelps) Jacob, were both descended from American colonial families, William from the Van Rensselaer family and Mary from William Phelps. In 1915, she married Richard R. Peabody, another blue blooded Bostonian whose family had arrived in New Hampshire in 1635. They had two children, but following Richard's service in World War I, he became a drunk who loved to watch buildings burn. She met Harry Crosby at a picnic in 1920, and they had sex within two weeks. Their public relationship scandalized proper Boston society. Two years later, Richard granted her a divorce, and Harry and Mary were married. They immediately left for Europe, where they joined the Lost Generation of American expatriates. They embraced a bohemian and decadent lifestyle, living off Harry's trust fund of US$12,000 a year (or about $167,000 in today's dollars), had an open marriage with numerous ongoing affairs, a suicide pact, frequent drug use, wild parties, and long trips abroad. At her husband's urging, Mary took the name Caresse in 1924. In 1925, they began publishing their own poetry as Éditions Narcisse in exquisitely printed, limited-edition volumes. In 1927, they re-christened the business as the Black Sun Press.