Charles E. (Charles Edward) Carryl

Charles Edward Carryl was born in New York City on December 30, 1841, and died on July 3, 1920. Although he became known as a writer for children, he spent much of his working life in business: sources describe him as a stockbroker who held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange for 34 years, after earlier work with railroad companies.

Carryl published his first book, Stock Exchange Primer, in 1882, but his lasting reputation grew from imaginative children's writing. He was especially associated with playful fantasy and nonsense, and Princeton's biography notes that he was once hailed as the "American Lewis Carroll." His best-known work, Davy and the Goblin, first appeared in serial form in 1884 and helped make his name with young readers.

He also wrote poetry and humorous verse, and his family was literary as well: his son was the poet and humorist Guy Wetmore Carryl. Remembered for mixing business-world experience with a delight in language, Charles E. Carryl left behind work that is clever, light on its feet, and still enjoyable well beyond childhood.