cited in Edgar Allan Poe's "A Chapter on Autography"
HOME PAGE
LANGTREE, Samuel D. - Little is known about this Washington D. C. publisher, whose American Pamphlets (1839?) is considered an important resource on the nineteenth century. The material, from the late eighteenth century to 1838 covers topics as different as government, travel, religion, slavery, agriculture and more. The law firm he ran with a Mr. O'Sullivan from 1837 to the late 1840's was at one point the official printer for the United States government. They also published the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. He also briefly served as editor of New York’s Knickerbocker.
LEGARE, Hugh Swinton 1789-1843 - A South Carolina statesman (who pronounced his last name ‘leh-gree’), he held a number of offices, He helped publish the Southern Review and later wrote on law and democracy for the New York Review. As attorney-general under President Tyler, he died while accompanying him to the unveiling of the Bunker Hill monument.
LESLIE, Eliza 1787-1858 – Her father was a personal friend of Ben Franklin’s. She wrote poetry, only starting to write prose – a cookbook – at 40. She then edited the popular annual The Gift, and wrote very popular books on cookery and housekeeping, including the Domestic Cookery Book (1837), Ladies' Receipt Book (1848) and the Behavior Book (1853).
LIEBER, Francis 1800-1872 - Born in Germany, he had a variety of adventures in Europe before coming to America in 1872. He became a professor of history and political economy at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, until 1856, when he went to Columbia College, New York. His inaugural address on "Individualism; and Socialism, or Communism” was published by the college. He wrote against secession (while in South Carolina) and later for the Union. He also wrote Guerrilla Parties considered with reference to the Law and Usages of War, and Instructions for the Government of the Armies of the United States in the Field (1863) as well as a number of other works on law and the penal system.
LOCKE, Richard Adams 1800-1871 - Editor of the New York Sun and The New Era, he was responsible for two hoaxes. The first, known as the “Moon Hoax”, (1835) purported among other things to describe the inhabitants of the moon. Even some scientific men were taken in by this, and it was reprinted as a pamphlet in 1871. The other was The Lost Manuscript of Mungo Park. Towards the end of his life he left journalism because of ill-health and was appointed to the New York Custom House.
LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth 1807-1882 – Still one of the most popular American poets. Head of Harvard’s modern language program for 18 years. His poems “The Wreck of the Hesperus”(1841), Evangeline (1847), Hiawatha (1855) and “Paul Revere’s Ride”(1863) were immensely popular and remain famous today. Other works include Hyperion (1839) and Christus: A Mystery (1872), and a translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy (1865-67). In 1841 he wrote to Poe, “…you are destined to stand among the first romance-writers of the country.”
LOUD, Marguerite St. Leon c.1800-1889 - A Philadelphia poet, she contributed to magazines such the United States Gazette and published Wayside Flowers (1851). Griswold included her work in Female Poets of America. Her husband offered Poe $100 to edit one of her books.
LOWELL, James Russell 1819-1891 - The celebrated New England poet was still young when Poe wrote the current work, but already friends with Emerson and other Transcendentalists. In 1848, he was corresponding editor for The Anti-Slavery Standard, where he also published poems from 1843 to 1846. But it was in the Boston Courier that he began to publish the "Biglow Papers” beginning in 1846 and ending in 1848. These satirical poems in Yankee dialect were soon considered classics. While continuing purely literary endeavors such as Conversations with Some of the Old Poets (1845) and "The Vision of Sir Launfal” (1845), he wrote for the Dial, the Democratic Review, the Massachusetts Quarterly Review and Putnam's Monthly. He succeeded Longfellow as professor of modern languages at Harvard and also served as a diplomat in Spain and England. When he met Poe (in 1845), Poe had a hangover. He later said of Poe, “Three-fifths of him genius and two-fifths sheer fudge.”
LUNT, George 1803-1885 - A Massachusetts lawyer, he was for a while editor of the Boston Courier around the time of the Civil War. He was active as a public speaker, first as a Whig and then as a Democrat. He wrote several books of poems, including Poems (1839) and The Union, a Poem (1860), and books on New England.
 |
 the Bastille |
AUTOGRAPHY home page |
a Peacock |
 Books |