Tudor Jenks

Infobox Writer
name = Tudor Jenks


imagesize = 200px
caption = Tudor Jenks.
birthdate = birth date|1857|5|7|mf=y
birthplace = Brooklyn, New York
deathdate = death date and age|1922|2|11|1857|5|7|mf=y
deathplace = Bronxville, New York
occupation = author, editor and lawyer
nationality = United States
period = 1887 - 1922
movement =
notableworks =
influences =
influenced =

Tudor Storrs Jenks (1857-1922) was an American author, poet, artist and editor, as well as a journalist and lawyer. He is chiefly remembered for the popular works of fiction and nonfiction he wrote for children and general readers.

Life and family

Jenks was born in May 7, 1857 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Grenville Tudor Jenks and Persis Sophia (Smith) Jenks. His older brother was Almet F. Jenks, presiding justice of the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court. His younger brother Paul E. Jenks served as American Vice Consul in Yokohama, Japan. He was a grand-nephew of Wendell Phillips. He married, October 5, 1882, Mary Donnison Ford. They had three daughters, Dorothy, Pauline, and Amabel, the last of whom Jenks collaborated with on a play. He lived in Bronxville, New York, where he died at his home, of apoplexy, on February 11, 1922. He was survived by his wife and daughters.

Education

Jenks graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1874, Yale University in 1878, and Columbia Law School in 1880. He studied art in Paris in the winter of 1880-1881. Among his classmates at Yale were William Howard Taft, afterwards president of the United States, and Arthur Twining Hadley, later president of the university. During his attendance there he became a member of Skull and Bones and Delta Kappa Epsilon.

Career

Jenks practiced law in New York City from 1881-1887, following which he served on the staff of "St. Nicholas Magazine" as an associate editor from November 1887-October 1902. Afterwards he resumed law practice with the firm of Jenks & Rogers, of which his brother Almet was the senior partner. He was also a professional writer throughout his working life. His shorter works appeared in numerous magazines and were extensively anthologized during his own time. His books, almost all of them juveniles, were published by the Henry Altemus Company, A. S. Barnes & Company, Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, Doubleday, and F.A. Stokes Co., among others. Several were illustrated by John R. Neill. Jenks was a member of the Authors' Club.

Bibliography

Juvenile fiction

*"The Century World's fair book for boys and girls; being the adventures of Harry and Philip with their tutor, Mr. Douglass, at the World's Columbian Exposition" (1893) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/centuryworldsfai00jenk2 Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Imaginotions; Truthless Tales" (1894) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/imaginotionstrut00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Galopoff, the Talking Pony; a story for young folks" (1901)
*"Gypsy the Talking Dog; a story for young folks" (1902)
*"The Defense of the Castle, a story of the siege of an English castle in the thirteenth century" (1903) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=8kEDAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Tudor+inauthor:Jenks&lr=&as_brr=1 Google e-text] ) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/defenseofcastles00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Making a Start" (1903)
*"A Little Rough Rider" (1904)
*"The Magic Wand" (1905) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/magicwand00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"A Magician for One Day" (1905)
*"The Prince and the Dragons" (1905)
*"The Rescue Syndicate" (1905)
*"Timothy's Magical Afternoon" (1905)
*"The Doll That Talked" (1906)
*"The Astrologer's Niece" (1973)

What Shall I Be? series

*"The Fireman" (1911)
*"The Sailor" (1911)

hort stories

*"Why Duillius Dined at Home" (1909)

Drama

*"The Baron's Victim: a Mellow Drama" (1898)
*"Dinner at Seven Sharp; a comedy in one act" (1917) (with Amabel Jenks)

Poetry

*"June" (1905)
*"The Very Earliest" (1905)
*"Small and Early"
*"A Christmas Song"
*"The Spirit of the Maine"
*"In a Library"
*"An Old Bachelor"

Nonfiction

Biography

Lives of Great Writers

*"In the Days of Chaucer" (1904) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=fAYFAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Tudor+Jenks#PPR3,M1 Google e-text] ) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/indaysofchaucer00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"In the Days of Shakespeare" (1904) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=4QJGxXvY2csC&pg=PA1&dq=Tudor+Jenks#PPR5,M1 Google e-text] ) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/indaysofshakespe00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"In the Days of Milton" (1905)
*"In the Days of Scott" (1906) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=SK1WqIM-1bAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Tudor+inauthor:Jenks&lr=&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 Google e-text] )
*"In the Days of Goldsmith" (1907) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=N_A-AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Tudor+Jenks#PPP11,M1 Google e-text] )
*"In the Days of Bacon" (1908)

Other

*"Captain John Smith" (1904) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/captainjohnsmith00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Captain Miles Standish" (1905) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=rMVLAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Tudor+inauthor:Jenks&lr=&as_brr=1 Google e-text] )

History

*"The Book of Famous Sieges" (1909) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/bookoffamousseig00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"The Boys' Book of Explorations; true stories of the heroes of travel and discovery in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Americas. From the "Dark Ages" to the "wonderful century" (1900) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/boysbookofexplor00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )
*"Our army for our boys; a brief story of its organization, development and equipment from 1775 to the present day" (1906)
*"When America Was New" (1907) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/whenamericwasnew00jenkrich Internet Archive e-text] )
*"When America Won Liberty: Patriots and Royalists" (1909) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=e2wAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Tudor+Jenks#PPR1,M1 Google e-text] )
*"When America Became a Nation" (1910)

cience

*"Electricity for Young People" (1907) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=lDMJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:Tudor+inauthor:Jenks&lr=&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 Google e-text] )
*"Photography for Young People" (1908)
*"Chemistry for Young People" (1909; AKA "Chemistry for Beginners" (1910)) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/chemistryforyoun00jenkrich Internet Archive e-text] )

Edited

*"Tales of Fantasy" (vol. IV of "Young Folks' Library") (1902) ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=l-YDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=Tudor+Jenks#PPR7,M1 Google e-text] ) ( [http://www.archive.org/details/talesoffantasy00jenk Internet Archive e-text] )

References

*Browne, William B. "Genealogy of the Jenks family of America". Concord, N.H.?: W.B. Browne, 1952.
*Herringshaw, Thomas William. "Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century". Chicago: American Publishers Association, 1902.
*Johnson, Rossiter, ed. "Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans". Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904.
*Kilmer, Joyce. "Too Many Books Spoil the Modern Child," article in "The New York Times", Feb. 6, 1916.
*"Tudor Jenks Dies Suddenly," article in "The New York Times", Feb. 12, 1922.
*"Who's Who in America, a Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of the United States, 1903-1905". Chicago: A. N. Marquis & Company.
*"Who's who in New York City and State : a biographical dictionary of contemporaries". New York: W.F. Brainard, 1911.