Frank R. Stockton

Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902) was an American writer and humorist who worked as a wood engraver in Philadelphia before turning to fiction and children's writing in his thirties. He is best remembered for "The Lady, or the Tiger?" (1882), a story whose withheld ending became a national parlor argument, and for the Rudder Grange books that began in 1879. His trick was a deadpan whimsy: absurd premises delivered in a mild, perfectly reasonable voice. He died in April 1902 with two books still to appear, this one and The Captain's Toll-Gate.