Edith Nesbit

Victoria Margree (University of Brighton)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 15 Aug 1858
Died 4 May 1924
Activity 1878-1924

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Children's/Young Adult writer
Novelist

Resources

Nesbit's Works

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Edith Nesbit is primarily known for her novels for children, including

The Story of the Treasure Seekers

(1899),

Five Children and It

(1902) and

The Railway Children

(1906). She is considered by her biographer, Julia Briggs, to be “the first modern writer for children” and to have “invented the children’s adventure story more or less single-handed” (Briggs 2007, 10). She is increasingly also gaining recognition for her contributions to adult literature, including poetry and supernatural fiction.

Nesbit was born in Kennington, London, on the 15th August 1858, the youngest child of Sarah Nesbit and John Collis Nesbit, an agricultural chemist. Edith’s early childhood seems to have been a happy one until the unexpected death of her father a few months before her fourth birthday, an

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1897 words

Citation: Margree, Victoria. "Edith Nesbit". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3323, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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