Louella D. Everett
Louella D. Everett (1883–1967) was a poetry anthologist and associate editor of the 11th[1] and 12th[2] editions of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (with Christopher Morley).[3] Morley described Everett as having done "the most laborious part of the work" for both editions.[4] 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.[5]
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."[6] Between 1918 and 1960,[6] she was a contributor to the New York Times Book Review, working in the "Queries and Answers" department to help readers find the sources of bits of verse.[7] She was considered a "super sleuth of poetry fragments"[8] who "was especially knowledgeable in popular light verse."[9] 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.[10] 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.[6] Furthermore, she published two poetry anthologies: The Cat in Verse (with Carolyn Wells)[11] and Home and Holiday Verse.[12]
Louella D. Everett of Boston, Mass.,
Must be an industrious, painstaking lass;
I'm sure she refuses the diners and dancers
To devote all her time to Queries and Answers
— Carolyn Wells, Queries and Answers column[6]
Everett died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1967.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Morley, Christopher, and Everett, Louella D. Familiar Quotations, A Collection Of Passages, Phrases And Proverbs Traced To Their Sources In Ancient And Modern Literature By John Bartlett, 11th edition. Little, Brown, and Co., 1937.
- ^ Morley, Christopher, and Everett, Louella D. Familiar Quotations, A Collection Of Passages, Phrases And Proverbs Traced To Their Sources In Ancient And Modern Literature By John Bartlett, 12th edition. Little, Brown, and Co., 1948.
- ^ "Books: What's Familiar?". time.com. Time Magazine. 1948-12-13.
Editors Christopher Morley and Louella D. Everett
- ^ Bartlett, John; Morley, Christopher; Everett, Louella (1951). Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases and Proverbs, Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern. Little, Brown and Company.
- ^ Regier, Willis Goth (2010). Quotology. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 84.
- ^ a b c d McCarthy, Joe (1980). Days and nights at Costellos's. Boston: Little, Brown.
- ^ Rettig, James (1992). Distinguished Classics of Reference Publishing. Oryx Press. ISBN 0897746406.
- ^ a b "Louella D. Everett Dead at 83; Super Sleuth of Poetry Queries". The New York Times. 1967-09-28.
- ^ American heritage. Cooperstown, NY: American Association for State and Local History. 1947.
- ^ Sandow, Alexander, and Thurber, James. The Talk of the Town: Lady Answerer. The New Yorker, September 3, 1932, p. 11.
- ^ Wells, Carolyn, and Everett, Louella D. The Cat in Verse. Little, Brown, and Co., 1935.
- ^ Everett, Louella D. Home and Holiday Verse. Halcyon House, 1939.
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