A native of Evanston, Illinois, Monroe Wheeler spent most of the twenties traveling through Europe with his friend from their days at the University of Chicago, Glenway Wescott. Wheeler studied in England, France, and Germany in 1922-1923 and began a career in typographical design and book production that was to bring him critical recognition in Parisian literary circles in the early thirties. Wheeler had begun his career by publishing Wescott's The Bitterns in 1920, and he continued to publish books throughout the twenties. Of particular interest are the three books of poetry Wheeler published in the Manikin series: Janet Lewis's The Indians in the Woods (1922), William Carlos Williams's Go Go (1923), and Marianne Moore's Marriage (1923). While at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Riviera he published another book by Wescott, Like a Lover (1926).

In 1930 Wheeler settled in Paris, and he and Barbara Harrison established Harrison of Paris, announcing that they would produce high...