Sylvanus Cobb, Jr. (June 5, 1823 - July 20, 1887) was an American
writer of popular fiction during the mid-19th century. His work was
published in the New York Ledger, The Flag of Our Union, The Weekly
Novelette, Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, and
elsewhere. Cobb was born in Waterville, Maine to Sylvanus Cobb and
Eunice Hale Waite. Cobb served in the United States Navy,
1840-ca.1843. He married Jane Head in 1845; they had two children.
He joined the Freemasons in Norway, Maine in 1854. He began writing
stories around 1850. Frederick Gleason published Cobb's first
story, "The Prophet of the Bohmer Wald: a Tale of the Time of
Joseph II, Emperor of Germany" in The Flag of Our Union. His work
was also published in Gleason's Pictorial beginning in 1851. Cobb
wrote prolifically. He "wrote and sold no less than 120 novels,
more than 800 short stories, and found time to prepare some 90,000
manuscript pages of short items to pad out the columns of ...
weeklies." Some say he sacrificed quality for quantity. According
to one biographer, "Mr. Cobb was a fluent writer, who spent little
time in perfecting his style. As he summed up his work he wrote in
the 31 years that he contributed to the New York Ledger 89,544
large pages of manuscript." Others evaluated Cobb as "a prolific
writer of sensational tales quite without literary value." Cobb
published under various pseudonyms: Austin Burdick Charles
Castleton Col. Walter B. Dunlap Enoch Fitzwhistler Dr. J.H.
Robinson Dr. S. LeCompton Smith Symus, the Pilgrim Amos Winslow,
Jr. Several of his stories were adapted for the stage, including
"The Mystic Bride." His "stories were reprinted many times by other
publishers including Street & Smith (Columbia Library); Beadle
& Adams; Frederic A. Brady; Elliott, Thomes & Talbot;
George W. Studley; Ogilvie (Detective Series); and Donahue
(Flashlight Detective Series)." Around 1869, Cobb relocated to Hyde
Park, Boston, where he lived until his death in 1887. "Mr. Cobb
amassed a large fortune by his pen, and built himself a handsome
house at Hyde Park. His study was situated in a remote corner of
the house in a tower built exclusively for his convenience. There
he wrote uninterrupted, surrounded by all the curious odds and ends
that he had picked up during his life. He was particularly fond of
arms and armor, and his collection of these articles was rare and
valuable." Friends included the professional magician Jonathan
Harrington. Cobb's portrait was painted by his brother, Darius
Cobb. (wikipedia.org)
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