author
Charles Edwards
1797–1868
A nineteenth-century lawyer and man of letters, he wrote poetry, literary miscellanies, and books on legal and historical subjects after building his career in New York. His work ranges from verse to curious cultural studies, including a well-known volume on the history of finger-rings.
1 Audiobook
The history and poetry of finger-rings
by Charles Edwards
About the author
Born in Norwich, England, in 1797, he was educated at Cambridge before emigrating to New York, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He later served as standing counsel to the British consulate in New York City, while also pursuing a substantial writing career.
His books show an unusually wide range of interests. In addition to poetry such as Hofer, and Other Poems and Feathers From My Own Wings, he published legal works and more general literary and historical titles, including The History and Poetry of Finger-Rings and Pleasantries about Courts and Lawyers of the State of New York.
That mix of legal experience and literary curiosity gives his work a distinctive flavor: practical in some places, reflective and anecdotal in others. He died in 1868, leaving behind a body of writing that connected the worlds of law, literature, and everyday social history.