Who co-founded City Lights Books with Lawrence Ferlinghetti?

Peter D. Martin co-founded City Lights Books with Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Martin and Ferlinghetti established City Lights in San Francisco in 1953. The venture began as a bookstore specializing in paperback literature and poetry, and it soon became an important meeting place for writers, artists, and readers associated with the Beat movement.

Martin later left the partnership, while Ferlinghetti continued to develop City Lights as both a bookstore and publishing house. City Lights became especially influential after publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems in 1956, a decision that led to a widely publicized obscenity trial and a landmark victory for literary expression.

A frequent mix-up is to credit Ferlinghetti alone with founding the bookstore. He was its best-known long-term owner and publisher, but Peter D. Martin was the original co-founder. The bookstore’s publishing list later extended far beyond Beat writers.