Harper & Row

Harper & Row is presented in the diary through its work on Warhol’s America book: the publisher was involved in both reviewing editorial material and securing permission to reproduce photographs. These encounters show the project’s practical demands, as well as Warhol’s personal investment in judging its words and images.

Editorial Work

In November 1984, Warhol spoke with Harper & Row editor Craig Nelson about material Nelson had written for the book. Warhol’s assessment was categorical: he considered the writing unsuccessful. The diary records this as a direct editorial disagreement, placing Warhol in the role of an active reader of the project’s prose rather than a distant subject whose name merely appeared on it.

Image Permissions

In March 1985, Harper & Row called Warhol at work with news that Jane Fonda had declined the request to use her picture in the book. The refusal visibly angered him. He anticipated that Fonda might later ask him for something without charge and resolved that he would refuse in return. The episode made image clearance a matter of personal reciprocity as well as publishing procedure: a decision about one photograph became, in Warhol’s response, a remembered account between public figures.

Role in the Diary

The two encounters offer a limited but concrete view of Harper & Row’s role: its editor brought written material into discussion, and the publisher communicated the outcome of a licensing request. Together, they reveal the book’s production as a negotiation over both text and likeness. The diary gives no account of the project’s final publication arrangements, but it records Warhol’s close attention to the decisions being made on its behalf.