Edward Noyes Westcott
Edward Noyes Westcott was an American banker turned author, notable for his contributions to literature in the late 19th century. Born in 1846, he began his career in finance, working in various banking roles in Syracuse, New York, after leaving school at the age of sixteen. In 1880, Westcott established a banking and brokerage firm, which eventually failed in the late 1880s. Following his business setbacks and a diagnosis of tuberculosis, he sought recuperation in the Adirondack Mountains, where he turned to writing.
His most acclaimed work, "David Harum," was penned while he was recovering in Naples and published posthumously in 1898. The novel, which depicts a shrewd yet amiable Yankee character, resonated with the public, achieving remarkable popularity and selling over a million copies, despite initial rejections from publishers. Westcott's literary output also includes "The Teller," published in 1901, which features a collection of stories and personal letters. While "David Harum" gained immense fame and adaptations in various media, its literary merit has often been viewed as modest, attracting limited scholarly attention. Westcott's journey from banking to authorship highlights a unique narrative within American literary history.
Subject Terms
Edward Noyes Westcott
Banker
- Born: September 27, 1846
- Birthplace: Syracuse, New York
- Died: March 31, 1898
- Place of death: Syracuse, New York
American novelist and short-story writer
Biography
Edward Noyes Westcott is something of an anomaly in the history of American literature, being a banker turned author. The son of a dentist, he attended the public schools in Syracuse until he was sixteen and then left school to take a job as a junior clerk in a local bank. At the age of twenty he left Syracuse to work for an insurance company in New York City. He returned to Syracuse, however, to become a teller and cashier in banks in that city. In 1874 he married Jane Dows of Buffalo, New York, and the couple had three children, two sons and a daughter.
Eager to get ahead in life and to provide for his children’s education, Westcott formed the company of Westcott and Abbott, a banking and brokerage house, in 1880. For several years the firm was successful, but the bankruptcy of an allied company caused its failure in the late 1880’s, at which time Westcott took a job with the Syracuse water commission.
Having to retire because of tuberculosis in 1895, Westcott went to the Adirondack Mountains to recuperate. While there he began to write for his own amusement. In 1895 he went to Naples, still searching for good health. While there he wrote David Harum, his famous novel about a shrewd but good-hearted Yankee with a penchant for horse trading. The novel, rejected by six publishing houses before it was finally accepted, appeared in 1898, just a few months after Westcott’s death. Its success was immediate, with six printings within three months. The novel was immensely popular in the early twentieth century. Within two years more than 400,000 copies were sold, and the eventual sales exceeded one million copies. In 1901 The Teller, a group of stories, with some letters by Westcott, was published.
The popularity of David Harum continued with stage and film adaptations. The novel, among the first of a type that portrays the Yankee character as hard on the outside but gentle and kind within, is competently written, but its literary value is slight, and scholars, unlike the public, have passed it by with but little attention.
Bibliography
Case, Richard G. “The Westcott and David Harum.” Courier 10 (Winter, 1973): 3-14.
Glassie, Henry. “The Use of Folklore in David Harum.” New York Folklore Quarterly 23 (September, 1967): 163-185.
Hitchcock, Helen Sargent. “David Harum Philosophizes Again.” New York Times Magazine 17 (July, 1938): 10, 16.
Kurtz, Jeffrey B. “Edward Noyes Westcott.” In Nineteenth-Century American Fiction Writers, edited by Kent P. Ljungquist. Vol. 202 in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999.
Vance, Arthur Turner. The Real David Harum: The Wise Ways and Droll Sayings of One “Dave” Hannum, of Homer, N.Y., the Original of the Hero of Mr. Westcott’s Popular Book. New York: Baker and Taylor, 1900.