author
Ralph Straus
1882–1950
A prolific English novelist, biographer, and literary critic, he moved easily between fiction and literary history. He is especially remembered for books on Charles Dickens and for his interest in the world of printing and publishing.
1 Audiobook
Carriages & Coaches: Their History & Their Evolution
by Ralph Straus
About the author
Born in Manchester in 1882, he was educated at Harrow and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. While still an undergraduate he privately published his first novel, Heart's Mystery, and went on to build a long writing career that ranged across novels, criticism, biography, and book history.
He became best known as a biographer and man of letters. Reference and archive sources describe him as the author of notable studies including Dickens, a Portrait in Pencil (1928) and Dickens, the Man and Book (1936), alongside fiction such as The Dust Which Is God, The Unseemly Adventures, and Married Alive. He also wrote on the history of printing and publishing, showing a lasting interest in how books are made as well as how they are written.
He died in London in 1950. Though not a household name today, his work still appeals to readers who enjoy literary lives, publishing history, and the lively book culture of early twentieth-century Britain.