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Rossiter Johnson (27 January 1840 – 3 October 1931) was an American author and editor. He edited several encyclopedias, dictionaries, and books, and was one of the first editors to publish "pocket" editions of the classics. He was also an author of histories, novels, and poetry. Among his best known works wasPhaeton Rogers, a novel of boyhood inRochester, New York, where Johnson was born.
Johnson received his early education in common schools, and graduated from theUniversity of Rochester in 1863, delivering the poem on class day. He later received the honorary degrees ofPh.D. andLL.D. from the University of Rochester.[1]
From 1864 to 1868, he was connected withRobert Carter in editing theRochesterDemocrat, aRepublican newspaper, and from 1869 to 1872 was editor of theConcord, New Hampshire,Statesman. From 1873 to 1877, he was associated with Messrs.George Ripley andCharles A. Dana in editing theAmerican Cyclopædia. In 1878, he edited the authorizedLife of Farragut. From 1879 to 1880, he was associated withSydney Howard Gay in the preparation of the last two volumes of Gay'sHistory of the United States. In 1883 he became editor of theAnnual Cyclopaedia, and from 1886 to 1888 was managing editor ofAppletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. From 1891 to 1894, he was on the editorial staff of theStandard Dictionary.
For six years, he was secretary of the New York Authors Club, whose sumptuous and uniqueLiber Scriptorum (1893) he prepared with J. D. Champlin and G. C. Eggleston. He was the editor-in-chief ofThe Biographical Dictionary of America published in 1906.[2]
He devised and edited the series ofLittle Classics (16 vols., Boston, 1874–1875; two additional vols., 1880; 25th ed., 1887), and has also editedWorks of the British Poets, with Biographical Sketches (3 vols., New York, 1876),Famous Single and Fugitive Poems (1877),Play-Day Poems (1878),Fifty Perfect Poems (with Charles A. Dana, 1882),A History of the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 (4 vols., New York, 1898),World's Great Books (editor-in-chief, 50 vols., 1898–1901),Great Events by Famous Historians (20 vols., 1904),The Literature of Italy (withDora Knowlton Ranous, 16 vols., 1906), andThe Authors' Digest (1909). In 1876, he tried making abbreviated editions of some of the greater novels of theEnglish language (4 vols., 16 mo., New York). He edited “The Literary Querist” of theLamp (formerly theBook-Buyer).
Johnson made numerous contributions to periodicals, among which were those to “The Whispering Gallery” department to theOverland Monthly.He also wrote:
His wife wasHelen Kendrick Johnson, a writer, poet, and prominent activist who opposed the women's rights movement.[3]
His sister,Evangeline Maria Johnson, graduated from Rochester Free Academy, and in 1877 married Joseph O'Connor, a journalist and poet. She translated “Fire and Flame” (German:Feuer und Flamme) byLevin Schücking (New York, 1876), and preparedAn Analytical Index to the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Boston, 1882) andAn Index to the Works of Shakspere (New York and London, 1887). She contributed numerous poems to periodicals, the best known of which is “Daughters of Toil.”
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Johnson, Rossiter, ed. (1906). "Preface".The Biographical Dictionary of America. Vol. 1. Boston: American Biographical Society. pp. 13–14. Homans, James E., ed. (1918)."Johnson, Rossiter" .The Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: The Press Association Compilers, Inc.
Works by or aboutRossiter Johnson atWikisource
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