Background
Howells, William Dean was born on March 1, 1837 in Martins Ferry, Ohio, United States. Son of William Cooper and Mary (Dean) Howells.
Howells, William Dean was born on March 1, 1837 in Martins Ferry, Ohio, United States. Son of William Cooper and Mary (Dean) Howells.
Brother of Annie Howells Frechette. His father was a country editor and his education was largely gained in his father’s and other Ohio newspaper offices in which he worked as compositor, correspondent and editor. (honorary Master of Arts, Harvard, 1867, Yale, 1881.
Doctor of Letters, Yale, 1901, Oxford, 1904, Columbia, 1906. Doctor of Laws, Adelbert College, 1904).
United States consul to Venice, 1861-1865. Studied Italian language and literature there. Editorial writer on New York Nation, 1865-1866.
Assistant editor, 1866-1871, editor, 1872-1881, Atlantic Monthly. Editorial contributor Harper’s Magazine, 1886-1891. Later editor Cosmopolitan Magazine for short time.
Now writer of “Editor’s Easy Chair,” Harper’s. President American Academy Arts and Letters. Author: Poems of Two Friends (with John Jay Piatt).
Life of Abraham Lincoln. Venetian Life, new edit., 1907. Italian Journeys; Suburban Sketches.
No Love Lost; Their Wedding Journey. A Chance Acquaintance. A Foregone Conclusion.
Out of the Question; Life of Rutherford B. Hayes. A Counterfeit Presentment. The Lady of the Aroostook.
The Undiscovered Country. A Fearful Responsibility, and Other Tales. Doctor Breen’s Practice.
A Modern Instance; A Woman’s Reason. Three Villages; The Rise of Silas Lapham. Tuscan Cities; A Little Girl Among the Old Masters.
The Minister’s Charge. Indian Summer; Modern Italian Poets. April Hopes; Annie Kilburn.
A Hazard of New Fortunes. The Sleeping Car, and Other Farces. The Mouse Trap, and Other Farces.
The Shadow of a Dream. An Imperative Duty; A Boy’s Town. The Albany Depot; Criticism and Fiction.
The Quality of Mercy. The Letter of Introduction. A Little Swiss Sojourn.
Christmas Every Day; The Unexpected Guests. The World of Chance; The Coast of Bohemia. A Traveler from Altruria.
My Literary Passions. The Day of Their Wedding. A Parting and a Meeting.
Impressions and Experiences. Stops of Various Quills (poems). The Landlord at Lion’s Head.
An Open-Eeyed Conspiracy. Stories of Ohio; The Story of a Play. Ragged Lady; Their Silver Wedding Journey.
Literary Friends and Acquaintance. A Pair of Patient Lovers. Heroines of Fiction; The Kentons, 1902.
Literature and Life, 1902. The Flight of Pony Baker, 1902. Questionable Shapes, 1903.
Miss Bellard’s Inspiration, 1905. London Films, 1905; Certain Delightful English Towns, 1906. Between the Dark and the Daylight, 1907.
Through the Eye of the Needle. Fennel and Rue; The Mother and the Father. Seven English Cities.
New Leaf Mills, 1913. The Seen and Unseen at Stratford-on-Avon, 1914. Years of My Youth, 1915.
The Leatherwood God, 1916. Gold medal, National Institute of Arts and Letters, “for distinguished work in fiction,” 1915. Editor: Choice Autobiographies, with essays (8 vols.).
Library of Universal Adventure. Home: New York, New York.
Married Elinor G. Mead, December 24, 1862.