Description
1892 JACK THE HUNCHBACK BY JAMES OTIS ADVENTURE ON COAST OF MAINE ILLUSTRATED. Published by A.L. Burt Co., New York. Like most writers of his era, he was astonishingly prolific, and a total of nearly 200 books by him have been identified. He married Amy L. Scamman on March 19 of that year, and they had two sons, Stephen and Otis. From 1892, the first edition of Jack the Hunchback: A Story of Adventure on the Coast of Maine, by James Otis. Published by A.L. Burt Co., New York. Handsomely bound in blue decorated Victorian cloth, 8x5 inches, 286 pages, with publisher ads at the rear. James Otis Kaler (March 19, 1848 — December 11, 1912) was an American journalist and author of children’s literature. He wrote under the name James Otis. Life and career Kaler was born on March 19, 1848, in Winterport, Maine. He attended public schools, then got a job with the Boston Journal at 13, and three years later was providing coverage of the American Civil War. Later, he worked as a journalist or editor for various newspapers, superintendent at schools, and a publicity man at a circus. In 1880 he wrote his first, and still most famous (largely by way of a filmed version by Walt Disney), children's book, Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus, a story about an orphan who runs away to join the circus. Following the book's success, he went on to author numerous other children's books, mostly historical and adventure novels. Like most writers of his era, he was astonishingly prolific, and a total of nearly 200 books by him have been identified. Most were signed with the Otis name, but he also used the pen names Walter Morris, Lt. James K. Orton, Harry Prentice, and Amy Prentice. (Some scholars believe that the latter books, which were aimed at a younger audience than most of his works, were in fact written by his wife.) After spending several years in the southeastern states, he returned to Maine in 1898 to become the first superintendent of schools in South Portland. A school named in his honor still stands in that city. He married Amy L. Scamman on March 19 of that year, and they had two sons, Stephen and Otis. Kaler died of uremia on December 11, 1912, in Portland, Maine.