Scope and arrangement
The Jeannette Watson papers (1977-2011) supplement the Books & Co. records held at the New York Public Library and document Watson's career as a bookseller and publisher following the closure of the Books & Co. store.
Items related to the Books & Co. bookstore include correspondence, incorporation records, and blueprints. A card file used to record brief details about individual customers lists account balances for customers such as Arthur Ashe and Woody Allen. A contract outlines the terms of a loan from Watson's father and one photo album depicts the last event held at the store. Researchers interested in the bookstore should also consult the Books & Co. records for more thorough documentary evidence. The daily operations of the Lenox Hill Bookstore under Watson's ownership are represented by reports containing financial details and sales figures; newsletters; event information; and photographs. Watson's rolodexes provide evidence of the breadth of contacts she maintained as an independent bookseller, during a challenging time for independent bookstores.
Personal and professional correspondence comprises the majority of the collection. Most correspondence is filed in rough chronological order. However, letters from Watson's parents, Thomas and Olive, her close friend Leila Hadley Luce, and a handful of others are filed separately. Other notable correspondents are Gloria Vanderbilt, Fran Lebowitz, Brendan Gill, and William Jay Smith. Some items are brief thank you and birthday notes, but other letters are more detailed and pertain to business matters.
Watson's activities as a book publisher under the Turtle Point Press imprint, Books & Co., are represented by files for fourteen individual book titles and catalogs. These files contain shipping orders, copyright inquiries, cover mock ups, publicity materials, mass mailings, and correspondence directly related to the publication. Watson also distributed her Off the Wall newsletter, where she announced the imprint's activities and provided her and her friends' new book recommendations.