William Shawn worked at The New Yorker magazine for fifty-four years. He began there in 1933, became the editor in 1952, and left in 1987, when a company that had bought the magazine forced him to resign. It is safe to say that he was the pre-eminent magazine editor in the world during that time.  He loved new writing, read quickly, and almost always knew what to do to a piece to make it better. He was a shy, formal man, who gave almost no interviews and who almost never let himself be photographed.

Behrman’s letters to Shawn are full of wit, anecdotes and updates about Max Beerbohm, gossip, news about his writing, editorial queries to Shawn regarding his work on Beerbohm, requests for research material, and personal information regarding travel, etc.