Andrew Steinmetz

Andrew Steinmetz was a 19th-century author whose dates are commonly given as 1816–1877. Surviving library and archival records connect him with works including The Novitiate, or, A Year Among the English Jesuits (1846), History of the Jesuits (1848), The Romance of Duelling in All Times and Countries (1868), The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims, Sunshine and Showers (1867), and The Smoker's Guide, Philosopher and Friend (published in the 1870s).

What makes his writing stand out is its range. Steinmetz moved from religious history and personal narrative to wide-ranging books about social habits and pastimes, often choosing subjects that were colorful, controversial, or a little unexpected. Even from the titles alone, he comes across as a writer interested in how people live, believe, compete, and indulge themselves.

Some modern archival notes say he briefly joined the Jesuits in England before writing about that experience, which helps explain his early focus on Jesuit life and history. Beyond that, reliable biographical detail is quite thin in the sources I could confirm, so it is safest to let the books themselves define him: an energetic Victorian man of letters with a taste for curious corners of history and everyday life.