Arthur Stanwood Pier

Arthur Stanwood Pier was an American writer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 21, 1874. He is remembered mainly for fiction for younger readers, especially school stories such as The New Boy, Harding of St. Timothy's, and The Jester of St. Timothy's. Listings of his work also show a long, busy publishing career that stretched across novels, essays, and editorial projects.

Reliable contemporary summaries note that he spent about thirty years on the staff of The Youth’s Companion. They also describe him as a teacher of English at St. Paul’s School and at Harvard, and as an editor of the Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Those roles help explain the mix in his writing: part storyteller, part teacher, and part man of letters.

His books for boys were among his repeated successes, and some remained widely available long after publication through major public-domain and library collections. Even in his nonfiction and magazine work, he seems to have brought the same clear, approachable style that made his school stories easy to enjoy.