The murder fancier knows that the object of this devotion should mellow with age as surely as madeira. He is constantly beset to engage in a study of this or that contemporary murder, but only rarely does he accede. Let a crime show its merit, and survive the test of years, is his reply.
--Edmund Lester Pearson, Queer Books
Edmund Lester Pearson (1880- 1937) was a professional librarian in New York and the Library of Congress. He was also a prolific writer of, among other things, true crime articles for Vanity Fair and other magazines in New England and the United States and several collections of crime essays. Pearson also wrote children’s stories and one tome about the bizarre books he’d encountered as a librarian.
And he was, in your correspondent’s opinion, the greatest—the greatest!—true crime writer Of All Time. Nobody can touch his acidic sarcasm, his ability to sum a personality in a sentence, or his masterful rendition of crime essays. His most seminal work was The Borden Case, but he wrote many more crime accounts. They’re hard to find and expensive and worth every single penny.
Masterpieces of Murder is a collection of Pearson essays edited and with an introduction by Gerald Gross. He also wrote Murder at Smutty Nose; Five Murders; and Studies in Murder (1924). A new scholarly edition of Pearson’s classic (which discusses the cases of Lizzie Borden as well as three more obscure murders) has come out from Ohio State Press with an introduction by Professor Roger Lane, author of Murder in America: A History.
Pearson’s Studies in Murder is getting good reviews His other works include:
Murders that Baffled the Experts
Instigation of the Devil, being a veracious account of twenty or thirty murders and other odd occurrences
More Studies in Murder was Pearson’s last book, and we’re all the worse for it.
If you’re interested in reading some of Pearson’s articles in their glorious original context, some of Pearson’s work appeared in early true detective magazines, which can be found for sale on the internet from a seller who has a vast collection and an author index.
Pearson’s Non-Crime works include The Voyage of the Hoppergrass, a children’s book easily found on the internet. Of course, the original is easier to share with a child. Another is Dime Novels: Or, Following an Old Trail in Popular Literature.
Another favorite is Queer Books. This book is as queer as its title. Pearson writes about the very strange book collections he’s encountered while wandering through the libraries of New England, i.e. temperance novels and frivolous "annuals". The best gems are contained in "From Sudden Death," in which he gives a brief history of the true crime genre from its inception in the "pamphlet."
The Old Librarian’s Almanack (1909) – This book was a fabulous hoax. It purports to be a reprint of a “found” librarian’s manual from 1773, but it was Pearson’s invention. In the Almanack, a mythical librarian rails against the patrons who interrupt his reading and threaten the collections he so assiduously guards. A real treat for librarians and library patrons alike. Many years ago, a book was written about Pearson’s Almanack hoax: Wayne A. Wiegand’s The History of a Hoax: Edmund Lester Pearson, John Cotton Dana, and 'The Old Librarian's Almanack' (Beta Phi Mu, 1979). You can read excerpts of this wonderful book about a book about a book here. My favorite quote from the Almanack: "I am so be-pestered and bothered by persons insinuating themselves into the Library to get Books that frequently I am near to my Wit's end. There have been days when I was scarce able to read for two Hours consecutive without some Donkey breaking in upon my Peace.”
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