F. Hopkinson Smith

FRANCIS HOPKINSON SMITH was not only an author, but a marine engineer, builder of lighthouses, and fine artist. From the new Introduction by John Bailey Lloyd: Smith was born in Baltimore in 1838 to a distinguished family. He was a great grandson of Francis Hopkinson, poet and signer of the Declaration of Independence for New Jersey. Raised in an artistic and intellectual household ... he worked at a number of jobs eventually becoming an engineer specializing in marine projects. Writing was, in fact, Smith's third career and one he did not begin until he was over fifty. By then, he was not only a very successful engineer but also an acclaimed and popular artist.... Smith believed that anyone who loved art for its own sake should have another career to provide a living and then -- in his evenings and on his Sundays...take down his Aladdin's lamp and give it a rub. His writing career began when he decided to capitalize on his skill as a raconteur and put some of his after dinner stories into print, illustrating them with sketches. When his first novel, Colonel Carter of Cartersville, proved successful, Smith gave up his engineering career and retired to a life of travel, painting and writing in Spain, Italy and Constantinople. He produced a long line of travel books, short story collections and longer works of fiction. He died in New York in 1915.