Louella D. Everett (1883–1967) was a poetry

anthologist In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically catego ...

and associate editor of the 11th and 12th editions of ''

Bartlett's Familiar Quotations ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'', often simply called ''Bartlett's'', is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. The book was first issued in 1855 and is currently in its ninet ...

'' (with

Christopher Morley Christopher Darlington Morley (May 5, 1890 – March 28, 1957) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He also produced stage productions for a few years and gave college lectures.''Online Literature'' Biography Morley was bo ...

). Morley described Everett as having done "the most laborious part of the work" for both editions. The 11th edition was the first to divide pages into two columns of quotes and was marked by a notable increase in number of women quotees: 303 out of a total of 2280 quotees (13.2%), compared to 92 of 1058 total quotees (8.6%) in the 10th edition. Everett started her collection and organization of verses at the age of 18, eventually gathering more than "a hundred thousand poetic items ..filed and cross-indexed alphabetically." Between 1918 and 1960, she was a contributor to the

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

, working in the "Queries and Answers" department to help readers find the sources of bits of verse. She was considered a "super sleuth of poetry fragments"'' who "was especially knowledgeable in popular light verse." At one time, her fame was such that she was the topic of a short piece in '' The New Yorker's'' The Talk of the Town. She also answered queries sent directly to her home address in her spare time. Though she was married to a Boston man named Charles H. Young, she did not use that name in her editing work. In addition to her quotation-finding work, Everett worked full-time as a public stenographer who typed medical papers. Furthermore, she published two poetry anthologies: ''The Cat in Verse'' (with Carolyn Wells) and ''Home and Holiday Verse''. Everett died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1967.

References

1883 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American poets American women poets 20th-century American women writers {{US-poet-1880s-stub