Henry Carter Hull

"A novel about a woman who one day comes home to find her attic is magic and producing an endless supply of interchangeable husbands"--

Jean Webster was the pseudonym used by Alice Jane Chandler Webster (1876–1916), an American writer and author of many books, including 'Daddy-Long-Legs' and 'Dear Enemy'. Her best-known books feature lively, likeable young female protagonists who come of age intellectually, morally, and socially, but with enough humor, snappy dialogue, and gently biting social commentary to make her books palatable and enjoyable to contemporary readers. 'Daddy-Long-Legs'...

"Boon" is a 1915 work of literary satire by H. G. Wells. It purports, however, to be by the fictional character Reginald Bliss, and for some time after publication Wells denied authorship. "Boon" is best known for its part in Wells's debate on the nature of literature with Henry James, who is caricatured in the book. But in "Boon," Wells also mocks himself, calling into question and ridiculing a notion he held dear—that of humanity's collective...

Frederic Stewart Isham (March 29, 1865 – September 6, 1922) was an American novelist and playwright who wrote mainly historical romances and adventure novels. Isham was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Charles Storrs Isham and Lucy B. (Mott) Isham. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London for two years. In 1895 he married Helen Margaret Frue. He died in New York. Isham began as a playwright and later turned to novels, writing mainly...

It will be readily perceived that the literary part of this work is of humble pretensions. One object alone has been aimed at and it is hoped with success—to select or to invent those incidents which might be interesting or amusing in themselves, while they afforded scope for the peculiar talents of the artist who adorns them with his designs. The selection was more difficult than may at first sight be supposed. It is true, there is no paucity of...

Edward Tennyson Reed (1860–1933) was an English political cartoonist and illustrator, primarily known for his cartoons in Punch Magazine. Edward Tennyson Reed was born in Greenwich, London, on 27 March 1860, the son of Chief Naval Architect and MP for Cardiff Sir Edward James Reed and his wife Rossetta. Reed was educated at Harrow School and later studied for the Bar. However he preferred the world of art, and trained at Calderon's Art School before...

Sir John Alexander Hammerton (1871–1949) is described by the 'Dictionary of National Biography' as "the most successful creator of large-scale works of reference that Britain has known". Among many other notable accomplishments, he edited the 'Punch Library of Humour', a series of 25 volumes of selected 'Punch Magazine' sketches, described as "cream of [British] national humour, contributed by the masters of the comic draughtsmanship and leading...

In 1809, New Yorkers were buzzing about a series of classified ads concerning the whereabouts of Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker. They were unaware that Washington Irving had invented the man entirely and placed the ads himself. Knickerbocker's purported manuscript, A History of New York, was Irving's own. Told from Knickerbocker's point of view, A History of New York is a chronicle of New York's fifty years under Dutch rule in the 1600s that...

Wartime culinary memoirs from the American author, humourist, and columnist who lived in New York and wrote over 60 books and 300 short stories.

"On the Decay of the Art of Lying" is a short essay written by Mark Twain in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. Twain published the text in The Stolen White Elephant Etc. (1882). In the essay, Twain laments the four ways in which men of America's Gilded Age employ man's 'most faithful friend'. He concludes by insisting that: "the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully,...