author

Sumner Charles Britton

1866–1927

A Chicago publisher turned novelist, he helped shape the early American book trade before writing a romance of wealth, secrecy, and Long Island intrigue. His work sits at an interesting crossroads between popular publishing history and early 20th-century fiction.

1 Audiobook

Dreamy Hollow : $b a Long Island romance

Dreamy Hollow : $b a Long Island romance

by Sumner Charles Britton

About the author

Born in 1866, Sumner Charles Britton is best remembered both as an author and as a publishing figure in Chicago. Reliable sources connect him to the firm Reilly & Britton, which he co-founded with Frank Kennicott Reilly after the George M. Hill company collapsed in 1902.

Britton had worked as a salesman in publishing, and later became associated with World Syndicate Publishing Company as well. That background helps explain the smooth, commercial storytelling style of his novel Dreamy Hollow, published in 1921, a romantic tale set on Long Island.

He died in 1927. While he is not as widely known today as some of the writers his companies published, his career offers a glimpse into the fast-moving world of American popular books in the early 1900s, where editing, selling, and storytelling often lived side by side.