author
1857–1923
Best known for brisk early 20th-century adventure stories for young readers, this American writer also moved in Boston’s arts-and-crafts world and brought that wider cultural life into his work.

by Arthur Astor Carey
Born in 1857 and remembered as a member of the Astor family, he wrote books including Boy Scouts at Sea and The Scout Law in Practice. Records available online also show New Nerves for Old among his published works, suggesting interests that ranged beyond fiction into character, health, and self-improvement.
He was active in cultural and civic circles in Boston. Sources connect him with the Society of Arts and Crafts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and other reform-minded organizations of his day, pointing to a life shaped not only by writing but by art, education, and public service.
He died in Waltham, Massachusetts, on June 10, 1923. Even though he is not widely read now, his books still offer a clear window into the ideals, anxieties, and adventurous spirit of the era that produced them.