Jacob Israel Zeitlin (1902-1984) was an American bookseller, collector, poet and intellectual in Los Angeles in the mid-twentieth century. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but moved to Fort Worth, Texas in his childhood and Los Angeles in his twenties. For many years, Zeitlin lived and operated a rare book shop in Echo Park, California,[1] during which time he was at the center of many of Los Angeles' intellectual circles, including the Rounce and Coffin Club.[2]
Zeitlin was one of the first people to exhibit the woodcuts of fellow Echo Park resident, Paul Landacre,[1] and the photographs of Edward Weston, as well as the first in America to exhibit. Zeitlin was also a poet and the editor of Opinion, a brief Angelino intellectual journal. A liberal in politics, Zeitlin was the campaign manager for Helen Gagahan Douglas' Senatoral campaign.[3] He also lobbied against the La Cienega Boulevard highway, bringing artistic friends such as actor and art dealer Joan Ankrum to Sacramento to protest.[4]