author
active 1830-1872 Thomas Clarke
A 19th-century American printer, publisher, and poet whose surviving work ranges from historical compilation to long narrative and political verse. His writing offers a small but vivid window into literary and publishing life in the decades before and after the Civil War.
1 Audiobook
Sir Copp: A poem for the times, in six cantos
by active 1830-1872 Thomas Clarke
About the author
Thomas Clarke, often identified in library records as active from 1830 to 1872, is best understood as Thomas Cottrell Clarke, a Rhode Island-born printer, publisher, editor, and author. Reference sources connect him with Philadelphia and later Camden, New Jersey, and show him working across several parts of the book trade rather than in a single literary role.
Clarke published and wrote in several forms. Bibliographic records link him to The Mission of America (1852), while digital library listings preserve later works including Sir Copp: A poem for the times, in six cantos, The Two Angels, and The Burning of Chicago. That mix of historical writing and poetry suggests a practical man of letters who moved between publishing, commentary, and verse.
He also appears in literary history through his connection to Edgar Allan Poe: specialist Poe sources describe Thomas Cottrell Clarke as one of Poe's associates and note his role in Philadelphia publishing circles. Even if many details of his life remain obscure, the record that survives shows a working 19th-century author deeply involved in the world of American print.