BY
OSCAR FAY ADAMS
AUTHOR OF “THE STORY OF JANE AUSTEN’S LIFE,” “THE ARCHBISHOP’S UNGUARDED MOMENT,” ETC.; EDITOR OF “THROUGH THE YEAR WITH THE POETS,” ETC.
FIFTH EDITION
REVISED AND ENLARGED
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1904
REPUBLISHED BY GALE RESEARCH COMPANY, BOOK TOWER, DETROIT, 1969
COPYRIGHT 1884, 1897, 1904 BY OSCAR FAY ADAMS
To
My Mother
[Pg iv]
In the present issue of this work such errors and misprints as thewriter or others have noted in earlier editions are corrected, whilethe supplement has been extended sixty-five pages by the insertionof thirteen hundred and twenty names in excess of those included inthe fourth edition. Wherever needful the entries in this portion ofthe volume have been materially amplified, and this has occurred innumerous instances, while throughout the book there have been suppliedmany dates of deaths happening since the first issue of the Dictionary,in 1897. Since that year the work has been enlarged to the extent ofone hundred and forty-six pages of addenda in all, and though it stillfalls much short of perfection in its line, the writer trusts that itwill yet be found responsive to all reasonable requirements that may bemade upon it.
Boston, December 1, 1904.
[Pg v]
The present volume is an outgrowth of the writer’s “Handbook ofAmerican Authors,” first published in 1884, several features whichthe judgment of the public approved in the earlier work having beenretained in this. Without pretending to contain an exhaustive list ofAmerican writers, it may nevertheless lay claim to be fairly inclusive,as the more than six thousand names herein mentioned will serve toshow. A few names that might naturally be looked for here have beenomitted at the request of their owners; while some others have not beenincluded, for the reason that diligent search failed to discover anytrustworthy data concerning them. Here and there, too, the reader maychance upon unfilled dates of birth, or initials unexpanded. Yet inthe majority of such cases application by letter made directly to theowners of the names aforesaid, or to relatives and immediate friends ofsuch persons, has failed to elicit any response. All reasonable efforthas been made to obtain trustworthy information upon such points,but failure to obtain replies to letters of inquiry must account forthe greater number of such omissions; and here it may not be out ofplace to mention that information of more general character obtainedfrom private sources has now and then been received too late to beof service, owing to the fact that the work was already electrotypedbefore it came to hand.
In a comprehensive work like this, including so large a number ofnames and so many thousand dates, e