author
John Seymour Wood
1853–1934
A New York lawyer-turned-novelist, he wrote lively fiction shaped by city life, college memories, and late-19th-century society. His books include stories set in New York and at Yale, giving them an easy mix of local color and period charm.
1 Audiobook
Stories of New York
by Annie Eliot Trumbull, George A. (George Abiah) Hibbard, Bliss Perry, Edith Wharton, John Seymour Wood
About the author
Born in Utica, New York, on October 1, 1853, John Seymour Wood became known as both a lawyer and a man of letters in New York City. Reference works describe him as an American lawyer and writer, and surviving records place him among the literary figures publishing fiction in the late 1800s.
Wood wrote several novels and story collections, including Gramercy Park: A Story of New York, A Daughter of Venice, College Days; or, Harry's Career at Yale, and Yale Yarns: Sketches of Life at Yale University. His titles suggest the range that made him appealing to period readers: New York settings, college scenes, and society fiction, all written with a strong sense of place.
He graduated from Yale in 1874, a detail that helps explain his recurring interest in university life. Wood died in 1934, leaving behind a body of work that offers modern readers a window into the tastes, settings, and storytelling style of the late Victorian and Gilded Age years.