author

W. J. Hamilton

1843–1892

A prolific dime-novel writer and newspaper editor, he worked under the pen name W. J. Hamilton and helped shape popular American adventure fiction in the late 19th century.

1 Audiobook

The Peddler Spy; or, Dutchmen and Yankees. A Tale of the Capture of Good Hope

The Peddler Spy; or, Dutchmen and Yankees. A Tale of the Capture of Good Hope

by W. J. Hamilton

About the author

Born Charles Dunning Clark in 1843, he is best remembered by the pseudonym W. J. Hamilton. He wrote for the booming dime-novel market, producing fast-paced popular fiction for publishers such as Beadle & Adams and becoming part of the wide reading culture that flourished in the United States after the Civil War.

Alongside his fiction work, he was also connected with newspaper publishing and editing, especially in Oswego, New York. That mix of journalism and commercial storytelling helps explain the direct, energetic style associated with writers of his era.

He died in 1892. While he is not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries, his work survives as part of the history of inexpensive mass-market fiction and the rise of American popular reading.