author
M. F. (Moses Foster) Sweetser
1848–1897
Best known for lively 19th-century travel handbooks, this American writer helped readers explore New England, the White Mountains, and the wider United States. He also wrote popular short books on major painters, bringing art history to a broad audience.
1 Audiobook
Dürer Artist-Biographies
by M. F. (Moses Foster) Sweetser
About the author
Born on September 23, 1848, Moses Foster Sweetser was an American author and editor whose books were aimed at curious general readers. He became especially known for compact guidebooks and handbooks that described places with a mix of practical travel detail, local history, and storytelling.
Sweetser wrote on a wide range of subjects. His travel books covered places such as the White Mountains, New England, the Middle States, the Maritime Provinces, and the United States as a whole, while his Artist Biographies series introduced readers to figures including Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Turner.
His work belongs to a period when guidebooks were an important way of opening up travel and culture to a growing readership. Sweetser died in 1897, but his books still offer a clear window into how Americans of the late 1800s learned about art, landscape, and travel.