They added to that in 1928 when they printed a limited edition of 300 numbered copies of "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe.

They published early works of a number of writers before they were well-known, including James Joyce's Tales Told of Shem and Shaun (later integrated into Finnegans Wake).

Other authors included Ezra Pound, Archibald MacLeish, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene Jolas and Oscar Wilde.

[9]: 42  The press rapidly gained notice for publishing beautifully bound, typographically flawless editions of unusual books.

Their friends included D. H. Lawrence, for whom they published a limited edition of 50 copies of The Escaped Cock, illustrated by John Farleigh, in September 1929 (later re-published as The Man Who Died).

[10] Harry occasionally spent time with one of their authors, Ernest Hemingway, who he had met skiing, and in July 1927 they visited Pamplona for the running of the bulls.

"[12]: 638  Harry eagerly campaigned to persuade Berry's long-time friend Edith Wharton to give him a great many of the books, and in the end she kept less than 100.

Caresse later wrote, "We had talked to a wise man in Egypt in 1928 who said, 'My wealth I measure by the things I do without,' and Harry believed the books weighed him down.

"[6]: 132  Every morning he would leave with a satchel full of rare books, despite Caresse's attempts to persuade him otherwise, and give them to waiters, barmen, and cab drivers; sometimes he would sneak them into antiquarian bookshops that lined the Seine with ridiculously low prices penciled into them.

[13][14] The Black Sun Press also published the poetry of Archibald MacLeish, who had like Harry overturned the normal expectations of society, rejecting a career as a lawyer with one of Boston's best law firms and lecturing at Harvard.

He had received $2,000 from Arts patron Otto H. Kahn in 1928 to begin work on what became a book-length poem, The Bridge,[15] but was frustrated at his lack of progress.

After he got to Paris, Harry offered him the use of the Crosby's country retreat, Le Moulin du Soleil, in Ermenonville, so he could concentrate on working on his poem.

Crane spent several weeks there and roughed out a draft of the "Cape Hatteras" section, a key part of the epic poem.

Harry noted in his journal, "Hart C. back from Marseilles where he slept with his thirty sailors and he began again to drink Cutty Sark..." Crane, a heavy drinker since his early days in New York, got drunk at the Cafe Select and fought with waiters over his tab.

[15] After six days in prison at La Santé, Harry Crosby paid Crane's fine and advanced him money for the passage back to the United States[16] where he finally finished The Bridge.

[19] During the rest of 1929, they published fourteen works by Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, René Crevel, T. S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound among others.

The Crosbys also published early works by newly emerging writers including Ramon Sartoris, Julien Levy,[5] and Dorothy Parker.

Bound in navy blue leather, the cover was stamped with gold to reflect the style of ancient Persian manuscripts.

The cover was red-purple cloth with gilt lettering; it contained 14 engravings on color plates, with tissue guards, and numerous in-text illustrations.

[22] In 1929, they published Harry Crosby's volume of verse, Mad Queen, which showed the influence of Surrealism and which included withering attacks on Bostonian tradition.

[3] On July 9, 1928, Harry met 20-year-old Josephine Noyes Rotch, ten years his junior, and began a troublesome affair with her.

That evening Crosby's friend Hart Crane threw a party to celebrate his completion after seven years of his poem, The Bridge, which was to be published by the Black Sun Press, and to bid Harry and Caresse bon voyage, since they were due to sail back to France the next week.

[25] The party went on until nearly dawn,[7] and Harry and Caresse made plans to see Crane again on December 10 to see the play Berkeley Square before they left for Europe.

[6] The New York Times front page blared, "COUPLE SHOT DEAD IN ARTISTS' HOTEL; Suicide Compact Is Indicated Between Henry Grew Crosby and Harvard Man's Wife.

[14][29] She had also established, with Jacques Porel, a side venture, Crosby Continental Editions, which published paperback books by European writers including Alain Fournier, Charles-Louis Philippe, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Paul Éluard, George Grosz, Max Ernst, C. G. Jung and Americans like Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, William Faulkner, and Kay Boyle,[30] among others.

The Black Sun Press is not given much attention in literary history because of the relatively short time period during which they published, and because they were seen as "frivolous interlopers" in the serious world of literature, what antiquarian books expert and actor Neil Pearson and others have called dilettantes.

[33] Only 100 copies were made when Editions Narcisse, later the Black Sun Press, printed in 1928 The Birthday of the Infanta by Oscar Wilde, with illustrations by Alastair.

[35] In February 2014, a bookseller offered a copy of The Escaped Cock by D. H. Lawrence, signed by the author and dedicated "To John Vassos", for USD$2,500.