author
William Davenport Adams
1851–1904
A busy man of letters in late Victorian Britain, he wrote on theater, literature, and everyday culture with the energy of a working journalist. He is especially remembered for reference books that helped readers navigate authors, plays, and the literary world.
1 Audiobook
A Book of Burlesque: Sketches of English Stage Travestie and Parody
by William Davenport Adams
About the author
Born in Brixton in late 1851 and educated at Edinburgh University, he built his career in journalism before becoming known as a drama critic and literary editor. Contemporary reference sources describe him as an English journalist, drama critic, and author, and note that he came from a notably literary family: he was the son of writer William Henry Davenport Adams, and his wife and sisters also wrote.
His work ranged widely, but much of it centered on books and the stage. He compiled and edited reference works including A Dictionary of English Literature and the unfinished Dictionary of the Drama, and he also published collections and anthologies that show how comfortably he moved between criticism, editing, and general literary journalism.
He died in July 1904. Though not a household name now, his career gives a vivid picture of the hardworking Victorian literary world, where one writer could be at once a reviewer, editor, compiler, and author.