Albert Walter Tolman

author

Albert Walter Tolman

b. 1866

A Maine writer remembered for brisk, wholesome adventure stories, he is best known for the Jim Spurling books. His fiction drew on coastal New England settings and a straightforward sense of character and hard work.

1 Audiobook

Jim Spurling, Fisherman or Making Good

Jim Spurling, Fisherman or Making Good

by Albert Walter Tolman

About the author

Born in Maine in 1866, Albert Walter Tolman studied at Bowdoin College and later at Harvard. Early in his career he taught at Bowdoin, working in Greek, rhetoric, and English before turning to law and then writing.

Tolman became known for stories for younger readers, especially the Jim Spurling novels. Works such as Jim Spurling, Fisherman and Jim Spurling, Millman mix adventure with a strong interest in everyday responsibility, perseverance, and life in Maine.

He lived a long life, dying in 1965. Although he is not widely read today, his books still offer a clear window into the values and storytelling style of early 20th-century American juvenile fiction.