Most of the writers who ended up in the Village came from the small towns of America, but some came from overseas. Ford Madox Ford, an Englishman, lived for a time at 10 Fifth Avenue. His birthday is December 17th.

James Joyce, Ezra Pound, John Quinn and Ford Madox Ford in Paris, Autumn 1923, outside Pound's studio in the Rue des Champs., Digital ID ps_mss_cd21_313, New York Public LibraryA few words from Mr. Madox:

Only two classes of books are of universal appeal: the very best and the very worst.

From The Good Soldier (1915):

You may well ask why I write. And yet my reasons are quite many.

For it is not unusual in human beings who have witnessed the sack of a city or the falling to pieces of a people to set down what they have witnessed for the benefit of unknown heirs or of generations infinitely remote; or, if you please, just to get the sight out of their heads.