A Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms in the English Language: The Definitive Dictionary of English Language Writers and Their Pseudonyms

It is well known that the author of Alice in Wonderland was the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, writing under the name of Lewis Carroll, but how many people know what Louisa May Alcott wrote for an adult audience under the name of A. M. Barnard; that another riverboat pilot used the name Mark Twain before Samuel Langhorne Clemens; that George Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) also wrote under the pseudonym Felix Holt; that Doris Lessing published under her maiden name Jane Somers; that Ellis Peters (real name Edith Pargeter) also writes under two other names; or that William Makepeace Thackeray wrote under a host of pseudonyms in numerous Victorian journals?
The Dictionary is arranged in two parts: Part I lists pseudonyms in alphabetic order, giving the author's real name; Part II lists the authors' real names, with brief biographical details, giving pseudonym(s) and selected titles of works published under each pseudonym.

Carty, a British secondhand book dealer, has expanded the second edition of this work to include nearly 17,000 pseudonyms of more than 10,500 authors. (The first edition, published in 1995, included 12,000 pseudonyms for 7500 authors.) Following a brief "Select Bibliography," the dictionary is divided into two parts. Part 1 lists pseudonyms (both proper names and attributions such as "A Russian Lady") and initialisms in alphabetical order with references to the real name or names. Nicknames or diminutive forms of names are also included, such as Peter Marcus Adlard's pseudonym, Mark Adlard. Part 2 lists real names with vital dates, nationality, a brief description of the person, pseudonyms used, and representative titles in which pseudonyms are used. Pseudonyms used in journals and newspapers as well as names used in books are noted. The text does not indicate whether the writer uses his or her given name in addition to a pseudonym or whether one pseudonym predominates. Writers from the early 17th century to the present day are included, but the emphasis is decidedly British and historical. Although this book is not as authoritative as Contemporary Authors or as browsable as Adrian Room's Dictionary of Pseudonyms (LJ 10/1/98. 3d ed.), which often describes the origins of the pseudonyms of people in many other fields as well as writers, it is an easy-to-use one-volume resource. Recommended for libraries looking for a new reference source in this subject.DVivian Reed, Long Beach P.L., CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.