author

Mrs. (Anne) Ritson

An English writer of children's books and verse, she also turned her years in Virginia into a lively early‑nineteenth‑century portrait of American life. Her work mixes instruction, curiosity, and a clear eye for everyday detail.

1 Audiobook

Classical Enigmas, Adapted to Every Month in the Year Composed from the English and Roman Histories, Heathen Mythology and Names of Famous Writers: Meant to Amuse Youths of All Ages, and at the Same Time Exert Their Memories, by Calling to Mind What They Have Read at Different Times

Classical Enigmas, Adapted to Every Month in the Year Composed from the English and Roman Histories, Heathen Mythology and Names of Famous Writers: Meant to Amuse Youths of All Ages, and at the Same Time Exert Their Memories, by Calling to Mind What They Have Read at Different Times

by Mrs. (Anne) Ritson

About the author

Anne Ritson, often published as Mrs. (Anne) Ritson or simply By a Lady, was an English writer active in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Reference sources describe her as flourishing roughly between 1799 and 1825, with much of her work aimed at young readers through lesson books and other early educational writing.

She followed her husband, Thomas Ritson, to the United States and spent about eight years in Virginia from 1799 to 1807. That experience shaped one of her best-known books, A Poetical Picture of America (1809), which turns her observations of places such as Alexandria and Norfolk into verse and offers a rare personal glimpse of American life from a British visitor's point of view.

Ritson also wrote Classical Enigmas, Adapted to Every Month in the Year, a playful collection designed to entertain while helping young people exercise their memories and recall what they had read. No reliable portrait image was found from the sources checked, so a profile image is not included here.