The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.

Said to have been rewarded for an official biography of Abraham Lincoln used during the election of 1860 he gained a consulship in Venice. In February 1910 Elinor Howells began using morphine to treat her worsening neuritis. Though the family had to live frugally the young Howells was encouraged by his parents in his literary interests.

William Dean Howells (March 1 1837 – May 11 1920) was an American realist author and literary critic.