author
Albert Smith
1816–1860
Best known for lively comic writing and for turning his climb of Mont Blanc into a hugely popular stage entertainment, he brought travel, satire, and showmanship together in a very Victorian way. Trained as a doctor, he left medicine behind for journalism, fiction, and public performance.
4 Audiobooks
The Comic Almanack, Volume 1 An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities
by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith
The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities
by William Makepeace Thackeray, Gilbert Abbott À Beckett, Henry Mayhew, Horace Mayhew, Albert Smith
The Natural History of the Gent
by Albert Smith
About the author
Born in Chertsey, Surrey, in 1816, Albert Richard Smith first studied medicine in London and Paris before moving toward writing and journalism. He became known as a witty popular author, contributing to periodicals including Punch and writing fiction, travel pieces, and light comic works for a broad nineteenth-century audience.
His biggest success grew out of his 1851 ascent of Mont Blanc. Smith turned the experience into The Story of Mont Blanc and an illustrated entertainment at the Egyptian Hall in London, where his mix of storytelling, humor, and spectacle drew large crowds. That unusual blend of author, lecturer, and performer made him one of the more distinctive literary personalities of his day.
He also worked in the world of publishing and theater, and is remembered not just for his books but for the way he helped make travel writing feel vivid and accessible. Smith died in 1860, just before his forty-fourth birthday.