Ann Sophia Stephens (March 10, 1810–August 20, 1886) was an American novelist and magazine editor. She was the author of

dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

s and is credited as the progenitor of that genre.

Early life

Ann Sophia Stephens was born on March 30, 1810, in

Derby, Connecticut Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. It borders the cities of Ansoni ...

; she was the daughter of Ann and John Winterbotham, son of William Winterbotham. He was the manager of a woolen mill owned by Col. David Humphreys. Her mother died early and she was brought up by her mother's sister, who eventually became her stepmother. She was educated at a

dame school Dame schools were small, privately run schools for young children that emerged in the British Isles and its colonies during the early modern period. These schools were taught by a “school dame,” a local woman who would educate children f ...

in South Britain, Connecticut, and started writing at an early age. She married Edward Stephens, a printer from

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth (; historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as ...

, in 1831 and they relocated to

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. The actress Clara Bloodgood was the daughter of their son, Edward Stephens, a well known New York lawyer.

Career

While in Portland, she and her husband co-founded, published and edited the ''Portland Magazine'', a monthly literary periodical where some of her early work first appeared. The magazine was sold in 1837. They moved to New York where Ann took the job of editor to ''The Ladies Companion'' and where she could further her literary work. This was also the time she adopted the humorous pseudonym ''Jonathan Slick''. Over the next few years she wrote over twenty-five serial novels plus short stories and poems for several well known periodicals which included ''

Godey's Lady's Book ''Godey's Lady's Book'', alternatively known as ''Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book'', was an American women's magazine that was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1878. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil ...

'' and ''

Graham's Magazine ''Graham's Magazine'' was a nineteenth-century periodical based in Philadelphia established by George Rex Graham and published from 1840 to 1858. It was alternatively referred to as ''Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine'' (1841–1842, and J ...

''. Her first novel ''Fashion and Famine'' was published in 1854. She started her own magazine ''Mrs Stephens' Illustrated New Monthly'' in 1856, it was published by her husband. The magazine merged with ''

Peterson's Magazine ''Peterson's Magazine'' (1842–1898) was an American magazine focused on women. It was published monthly and based in Philadelphia. In 1842, Charles Jacobs Peterson and George Rex Graham, partners in the '' Saturday Evening Post'', agreed ...

'' a few years later. The term "dime novel" originated with Stephens's ''Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter'', printed in the first book in Beadle & Adams's ''Beadle’s Dime Novels'' series, dated June 9, 1860. The novel was a reprint of Stephens's earlier serial that appeared in the ''Ladies' Companion'' magazine in February, March, and April 1839. Later, the

Grolier Club The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Tre ...

listed ''Malaeska'' as the most influential book of 1860.Nelson, Randy F. ''The Almanac of American Letters''. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 201. Some of her other work includes ''High Life in New York'' (1843), ''Alice Copley: A Tale of Queen Mary's Time'' (1844), ''The Diamond Necklace and Other Tale'' (1846), ''The Old Homestead'' (1855), ''The Rejected Wife'' (1863) and ''A Noble Woman'' (1871).

Works

*''Alice Copley: A Tale of Queen Mary's Time'' *''A Noble Woman'' *''Bellehood and Bondage'' *''Bertha's Engagement'' *''The Curse of Gold'' *''The Diamond Necklace and Other Tale'' *''Doubly False'' *''Fashion and Famine'' *''The Gold Brick'' *''The Heiress'' *''High Life in New York'' *''Katharine Allen; or, The Gold Brick'' *''Lord Hope's Choice'' *''Mabel's Mistake'' *''Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter'' *''Married in Haste'' *''Mary Derwent'' *''The Old Countess'' *''The Old Homestead'' *''Palaces and Prisons'' *''The Reigning Belle'' *''The Rejected Wife'' *''Ruby Gray's Strategy'' *''Silent Struggles'' *''The Soldiers' Orphans'' *''The Wife's Secret'' *''Wives and Widows'' *''The Lady Mary''

References

External links

Works by Ann S. Stephens
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Nickels and Dimes from Northern Illinois University
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Ann S. 1810 births 1886 deaths 19th-century American novelists American women novelists Novelists from Connecticut 19th-century American women writers Dime novelists People from Derby, Connecticut