Mary Ronald

Mary Ronald was the pen name of Augusta Newton Foote Arnold (October 24, 1844 – May 9, 1904), an American author and naturalist. She published The Century Cook Book in 1895 and Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book in 1902 under the Mary Ronald name.

Beyond her cookbooks, she also wrote The Sea-Beach at Ebb-Tide (1901), a well-known guide to seaweeds and marine life found between the tides in the United States. That combination of clear household writing and careful nature study gives her work a distinctive charm.

She was born in Seneca Falls, New York, married Francis Benjamin Arnold in 1869, and had three children. Some records describe her as 1844–1903, but major reference sources list her death in 1904, so that later date is the safest to use.