Laura Jean Libbey
Laura Jean Libbey was an American writer born in 1862 in Brooklyn, New York, known for her prolific contributions to the romance genre during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She began her writing career around the age of twenty, quickly gaining recognition for her stories published in various periodicals such as The New York Ledger and The Fireside Companion. Libbey’s narratives often centered on young women navigating romantic pursuits with men of higher social status, culminating in marriage after overcoming various struggles. Her popular works were also adapted into films in the 1920s, including titles like "When Love Grows Cold" and "A Poor Girl's Romance." Despite her literary success, she maintained a private life, opting for limited social engagement, which perhaps impacted her less successful foray into advice columns. Notably, she was a savvy businesswoman, earning significant income from her writing and editorial work, including a position at George Munro's New York Fashion Bazar. Libbey married late in life, in 1898, to lawyer Van Mater Stilwell, and continued to write under her maiden name. She passed away following cancer surgery in 1924, leaving behind a legacy of eighty-two novels.
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Laura Jean Libbey
- Born: March 22, 1862
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
- Died: October 25, 1924
Biography
Laura Jean Libbey was born in 1862. The Brooklyn, New York, native and resident began writing when she was around twenty years old; her first stories were published by such papers as The Fireside Companion, The New York Ledger, and The New York Family Story Paper. Often Libbey had multiple stories in print in various story papers at the same time. Indeed, Libbey’s storylines became the basis of at least three films in the 1920’s: When Love Grows Cold in 1925, A Poor Girl’s Romance in 1927, and In a Moment of Temptation in 1928.
So popular were the writer’s stories that they were reprinted as dime-store novels, a genre in which Libbey flourished. Her novels of romance all remained close to a central theme and format, in which a young woman on her own is noticed and pursued by a man higher than her in society; the couple, after navigating struggles, always marries in the end. Not as well received was Libbey’s attempt at an advice column called “Cupid’s Red Cross: First Aid to Wounded Heart.” Though she desired fame for her writing, Libbey led a relatively secluded private life by choice, with few close friends and limited social engagements, and this showed in—and detracted from—her column.
Though not formally educated, the author possessed a keen business sense and used that talent to secure impressive and lucrative deals for her books; reportedly, her work at one time brought her as much as $60,000 per year. Libbey supplemented her writing work with editorial work for such publications as George Munro’s New York Fashion Bazar, which she edited from 1891 to 1894, and for which she was paid $10,400 per year.
Libbey’s mother had forbidden marriage for her daughter, and the latter did not wed until 1898, two years after her mother’s passing; at age thirty-six, the romance novelist married Van Mater Stilwell, a Brooklyn lawyer. The union resulted in no children, and Libbey continued to use her maiden name for her writing and publishing endeavors. In 1924, Libbey underwent surgery for cancer, and complications lead to her death; she was buried in Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery, leaving behind a remarkable eighty-two completed novels.