author

Frank Cowan

1844–1905

A restless 19th-century American man of letters, he moved through public life as a lawyer, physician, journalist, and presidential secretary before turning his wide experience into fiction, verse, and travel writing. His career has the feel of an adventure story in itself.

1 Audiobook

Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions. A Complete Collection of the Legends, Superstitions, Beliefs, and Ominous Signs Connected with Insects; Together with Their Uses in Medicine, Art, and as Food; and a Summary of Their Remarkable Injuries and Appearances.

Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions. A Complete Collection of the Legends, Superstitions, Beliefs, and Ominous Signs Connected with Insects; Together with Their Uses in Medicine, Art, and as Food; and a Summary of Their Remarkable Injuries and Appearances.

by Frank Cowan

About the author

Born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1844, Frank Cowan built an unusually varied career. Sources agree that he studied law, served as a secretary to President Andrew Johnson in the late 1860s, earned a medical degree from Georgetown, and later practiced both law and medicine.

He also wrote across several forms, including fiction, poetry, drama, and travel pieces. After personal losses and illness, he traveled widely in the 1880s and wrote about places including Hawaii, India, Korea, Australia, Brazil, and New Zealand, giving his work a strongly international flavor.

That mix of professions and journeys helps explain why his writing feels so broad in interest: part literary, part journalistic, and often shaped by curiosity about the wider world. He died in 1905.