Alpheus Hyatt Verrill

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Alpheus Hyatt Verrill (born July 23, 1871 in New Haven , Connecticut ; died November 14, 1954 in Chiefland , Florida ) was an American writer, prolific author of popular science articles and books, youth literature, and short stories published in the contemporary pulp -Magazines appeared. Today he is best known as a writer of science fiction . He was also a naturalist and archaeologist, illustrator and inventor of photographic techniques.

Life

He was the son of the zoologist Addison Emery Verrill , who also taught him science. Verrill was trained as an artist at Yale University School of Fine Arts . He worked as an illustrator for the natural history articles of Webster's International Dictionary (1896) and for the Clarendon Dictionary . In 1920 he invented the “autochromic process”, an early method of color photography . As a naturalist and archaeologist, he worked for many years in South and Central America : from 1903 to 1906 in Dominica , from 1913 to 1917 in British Guiana and then until 1921 in Panama . He participated in expeditions in these areas well into old age. From 1933 to 1934 he undertook underwater excavations in the Caribbean .

Verrill was a prolific writer, well known in his day, who authored 115 books and hundreds of articles on a wide variety of science, engineering, and history subjects, often aimed at young audiences. However, the scientific reliability of his popular science work has been questioned by several reviewers.

His fantastic novels and short stories, with which he was a regular contributor to Amazing Stories and Amazing Stories Quarterly , are often about the encounter between young protagonists and lost civilizations somewhere in the remote jungles of Central and South America. An example here is the novel The Golden City (1916), in which the young Frank Ellis and his companion, Mr. Andrews, find an unknown cannibal tribe and a lost city in the jungles of Guyana. In the aeon-old ruined city, apparently destroyed by a meteor strike, they find plenty of gold and other treasures. The Boy Adventurers and Radio Detectives series also belong to this group of narratives .

Verrill had married Kathryn L. McCarthy in 1892 and had four children with her. In 1944 he married Lida Ruth Shaw. Verrill died in 1954 at the age of 83.

bibliography

If two years of publication are given for the original editions, the first is that of the first edition and the second that of the first edition (as a book).

Cloven Foot
  • The Trail of the Cloven Foot (1918)
  • The Trail of the White Indians: Sequel to The Trail of the Cloven Foot (1920)
Boy Adventurers
  • The Boy Adventurers in the Forbidden Land (1922)
  • The Boy Adventurers in the Land of El Dorado (1923)
  • The Boy Adventurers in the Land of the Monkey Men (1923)
  • The Boy Adventurers in the Unknown Land (1924)
Radio detectives
  • The Radio Detectives (1922)
  • The Radio Detectives Under the Sea (1922)
  • The Radio Detectives Southward Bound (1922)
  • The Radio Detectives in the Jungle (1922)
Novels
  • An American Crusoe: A Record of Remarkable Adventures on a Desert Island with only a Jackknife (1914)
  • The Golden City: A Tale of Adventure in Unknown Guiana (1916)
  • Into the Green Prism (1929)
  • The Bridge of Light (1929, 1950)
  • When the Moon Ran Wild (1931, 1962, also as Ray Ainsbury)
  • The Incas' Treasure House (1932)
  • The Treasure of the Golden God (1933)
  • Through the Andes (1934)
  • The Inner World (1935)
  • The Treasure of Bloody Gut (1937)
  • The Bridge of Light (1950)
  • When the Moon Ran Wild (1962)
Collections
  • Scientifiction (5 volumes, 2008)
Short stories
  • Beyond the Pole (1926)
  • Through the Crater's Rim (1926)
  • The Man Who Could Vanish (1927)
  • The Plague of the Living Dead (1927)
    • German: Murderous corpses. In: Murderous Corpses. Luther, Baden-Baden 1971.
  • The Voice from the Inner World (1927)
  • Variant: The Inner World (1939)
  • The Ultra-Elixir of Youth (1927)
  • The Astounding Discoveries of Doctor Mentiroso (1927)
  • The Psychological Solution (1928)
  • The King of the Monkey Men (1928)
  • The World of the Giant Ants (1928)
  • Death from the Skies (1929)
  • Vampires of the Desert (1929)
  • Dirigibles of Death (1930)
  • Beyond the Green Prism (1930)
  • The Feathered Detective (1930)
  • The Non-Gravitational Vortex (1930)
  • A Visit to Suari (1930)
  • Monsters of the Ray (1930)
  • The Exterminator (1931)
  • The Death Drum (1933)
  • The Mummy of Ret-Seh (1939)
  • The Flying Head (1939)
  • The Ghostly Vengeance (1939)
Non-fiction
  • Knots, Splices and Rope Work (1912, 1946)
  • Harper's Book for Young Naturalists (1913)
  • Harper's Wireless Book (1913)
  • Harper's Book for Young Gardeners (1914)
  • Harper's Gasoline Engine Book (1914)
  • Islands of Spice and Palm (1915)
  • The Boy Collector's Handbook (1915)
  • ABC of Automobile Driving (1916)
  • The Book of the West Indies (1917)
  • The Ocean and Its Mysteries (1917)
  • Getting Together with Latin America (1918)
  • Islands and Their Mysteries (1920)
  • Rivers and Their Mysteries (1922)
  • The Boy's Book of Buccaneers (1927)
  • The Boy's Book of Whalers (1927)
  • Cuba Past and Present (1928)
  • Thirty Years in the Jungle (1929)
  • Lost Treasure: True Tales of Hidden Hoards (1930)
  • Under Peruvian Skies (1930)
  • Jamaica of Today (1931)
  • Secret Treasure: Hidden Riches of the British Isles (1931)
  • The Inquisition (1931)
  • West Indies of Today (1931)
  • The Incas' Treasure Cove (1932)
  • They Found Gold; True Stories of Successful Treasure Hunts (1934)
  • Romantic and Historic Virginia (1935)
  • Along New England Shores (1936)
  • The Heart of Old New England (1936)
  • My Jungle Trails (1937)
  • Strange Reptiles and Their Stories (1937)
  • Strange Birds and Their Stories (1938)
  • Strange Fish and Their Stories (1938)
  • Strange Insects and Their Stories (1938)
  • Minerals, Metals and Gems (1939)
  • Strange Animals and Their Stories (1939)
  • Wonder Plants and Plant Wonders (1939)
  • Perfumes and Spices (1940)
  • Wonder Creatures of the Sea (1940)
  • Great conquerors of South and Central America (1943)
  • Foods America Gave the World (1945)
  • Strange Customs, Manners and Beliefs (1946)
  • Strange Prehistoric Animals and Their Stories (1948)
  • The Young Collector's Handbook (1948)
  • Shell Collector's Handbook (1950)
  • Strange Sea Shells and Their Stories (1936)
  • America's Ancient Civilizations (1953, with Ruth Verrill)
  • Strange Creatures of the Sea (1955)
  • The Strange Story of Our Earth: A Panorama of the Growth of Our Planet as Revealed by the Sciences of Geology and Paleontology (1962)
  • Never a Dull Moment: The Autobiography of A. Hyatt Verill (2008)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Verrill, Alpheus Hyatt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Verrill, A. Hyatt (alternative spelling); Ainsbury, Ray (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American zoologist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH New Haven , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1954
Place of death Chiefland , Florida