diff --git a/broker/client/append_service.go b/broker/client/append_service.go
index 642691bf..154af171 100644
--- a/broker/client/append_service.go
+++ b/broker/client/append_service.go
@@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ import (
 // writes block until successfully committed, as opposed to handling errors
 // and retries themselves.
 //
+// AppendService will retry all errors except for context cancellation and
+// ErrJournalNotFound. Appends to journals which don't exist are not treated
+// as hard errors, as there are scenarios where clients cannot prevent a raced
+// deletion of a journal. Instead, the append is discarded and callers can
+// inspect its response Status.
+//
 // For each journal, AppendService manages an ordered list of AsyncAppends,
 // each having buffered content to be appended. The list is dispatched in
 // FIFO order by a journal-specific goroutine.
@@ -278,7 +284,8 @@ func (p *AsyncAppend) Writer() *bufio.Writer { return p.fb.buf }
 // also roll back any writes queued by the caller, aborting the append
 // transaction. Require is valid for use only until Release is called.
 // Require returns itself, allowing uses like:
-//      Require(maybeErrors()).Release()
+//
+//	Require(maybeErrors()).Release()
 func (p *AsyncAppend) Require(err error) *AsyncAppend {
 	if err != nil && p.op.err == nil {
 		p.op.err = err
@@ -395,6 +402,10 @@ var serveAppends = func(s *AppendService, aa *AsyncAppend, err error) {
 					if err2 == context.Canceled || err2 == context.DeadlineExceeded {
 						err = err2
 						return nil // Break retry loop.
+					} else if err2 == ErrJournalNotFound {
+						log.WithField("journal", aa.app.Request.Journal).
+							Warn("discarding append for journal that does not exist")
+						return nil // Success; break loop.
 					} else if err2 != nil {
 						aa.app.Reset()
 						return err2 // Retry by returning |err2|.
diff --git a/broker/client/append_service_test.go b/broker/client/append_service_test.go
index e61a24c2..66d2526a 100644
--- a/broker/client/append_service_test.go
+++ b/broker/client/append_service_test.go
@@ -66,6 +66,17 @@ func (s *AppendServiceSuite) TestBasicAppendWithRetry(c *gc.C) {
 	aaNext.mu.Unlock()
 
 	c.Check(as.PendingExcept(""), gc.HasLen, 0)
+
+	// Case: broker responds with JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND.
+	aa = as.StartAppend(pb.AppendRequest{Journal: "a/journal"}, nil)
+	_, _ = aa.Writer().WriteString("hello, world")
+	c.Assert(aa.Release(), gc.IsNil)
+
+	readHelloWorldAppendRequest(c, broker) // RPC is dispatched to broker.
+	broker.AppendRespCh <- buildNotFoundFixture(broker)
+
+	c.Check(aa.Err(), gc.IsNil)
+	c.Check(aa.Response().Status, gc.DeepEquals, pb.Status_JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND)
 }
 
 func (s *AppendServiceSuite) TestAppendPipelineWithAborts(c *gc.C) {
@@ -611,4 +622,11 @@ func buildAppendResponseFixture(ep interface{ Endpoint() pb.Endpoint }) pb.Appen
 	}
 }
 
+func buildNotFoundFixture(ep interface{ Endpoint() pb.Endpoint }) pb.AppendResponse {
+	return pb.AppendResponse{
+		Status: pb.Status_JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND,
+		Header: *buildHeaderFixture(ep),
+	}
+}
+
 var _ = gc.Suite(&AppendServiceSuite{})
diff --git a/broker/client/appender.go b/broker/client/appender.go
index a9bc6b12..d3c153cf 100644
--- a/broker/client/appender.go
+++ b/broker/client/appender.go
@@ -96,6 +96,8 @@ func (a *Appender) Close() (err error) {
 		switch a.Response.Status {
 		case pb.Status_OK:
 			// Pass.
+		case pb.Status_JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND:
+			err = ErrJournalNotFound
 		case pb.Status_NOT_JOURNAL_PRIMARY_BROKER:
 			err = ErrNotJournalPrimaryBroker
 		case pb.Status_WRONG_APPEND_OFFSET:
diff --git a/broker/client/appender_test.go b/broker/client/appender_test.go
index c5d69649..e0a990a2 100644
--- a/broker/client/appender_test.go
+++ b/broker/client/appender_test.go
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
-	gc "gopkg.in/check.v1"
 	pb "go.gazette.dev/core/broker/protocol"
 	"go.gazette.dev/core/broker/teststub"
+	gc "gopkg.in/check.v1"
 )
 
 type AppenderSuite struct{}
@@ -125,6 +125,17 @@ func (s *AppenderSuite) TestBrokerCommitError(c *gc.C) {
 			errRe:       `validating broker response: Commit.Journal: invalid length .*`,
 			cachedRoute: 0,
 		},
+		// Case: known error status (journal not found).
+		{
+			finish: func() {
+				broker.AppendRespCh <- pb.AppendResponse{
+					Status: pb.Status_JOURNAL_NOT_FOUND,
+					Header: *buildHeaderFixture(broker),
+				}
+			},
+			errVal:      ErrJournalNotFound,
+			cachedRoute: 1,
+		},
 		// Case: known error status (not primary broker).
 		{
 			finish: func() {