Duffield Osborne

Born in Brooklyn on June 20, 1858, Duffield Osborne was educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and Columbia University, then graduated from Columbia Law School in 1881. He was admitted to the New York bar that same year and practiced law in New York City before serving in Brooklyn’s department of city works in the early 1890s.

After a period of foreign travel, he devoted himself more fully to literary work. He contributed to magazines including Life and Puck, and he served for several years as secretary of the New York Authors Club, placing him close to the literary culture of his time.

Osborne wrote across several forms, from historical romances such as The Spell of Ashtaroth, The Robe of Nessus, The Lion’s Brood, and The Angels of Messer Ercole to editorial and nonfiction work. His later books included Engraved Gems, Signets, Talismans and Ornamental Intaglios, Ancient and Modern and The Authors Club: An Historical Sketch. He died in 1917.