Ellis Parker Butler
(1869 - 1937)
Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 – September 13, 1937) was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story “Pigs Is Pigs”, in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating geometrically.
Ellis Parker Butler's career spanned more than forty years; and his stories, poems, and articles were published in more than 225 magazines. His work appeared alongside that of his contemporaries, including Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, James B. Hendryx, Berton Braley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Don Marquis, Will Rogers, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Despite the enormous volume of his work, Butler was, for most of his life, only a part-time author. He worked full-time as a banker and was very active in his local community. A founding member of both the Dutch Treat Club and the Author’s League of America, Butler was an always-present force in the New York City literary scene.
This website includes many of his publications that were not reprinted in books.
Bibliography
The Jack-Knife Man (1913)
A Mississippi river rat finds himself with two children and decides to get them a mother. It was made into a movie. Read online at archive.org.
Jibby Jones: A Story of Mississippi River Adventure for Boys (1923)
Summer time adventures of five boys on the middle Mississippi River based on the author’s boyhood in Muscatine, Iowa. Read online at archive.org.
Jibby Jones and the Alligator: The Story of the Young Alligator-Hunters of the Upper Mississippi Valley (1924)
Further adventures of Jibby Jones and his friends on the Mississippi River based on the author’s boyhood in Muscatine, Iowa.
Jo Ann, Tomboy (1933)
Jo Ann has her work cut out for her to bring Tommy Bassick to heel.
Louise A. Kent
Kilo: Being the Love Story of Eliph’ Hewlitt Book Agent (1907)
Tells of the adventures of a traveling bookseller. Read online at archive.org.
Many Happy Returns of the Day! (1925)
Everybody has a birthday - and that's worth celebrating.
Mike Flannery on Duty and Off (1909)
Three further adventures of the literal-minded manager of the Westcote express office. Read online at archive.org.
Millingham’s Cat-Fooler (1920)
Brownson and Millingham share the latter's garden hose - when the cat isn't using it. Read online.
Perkins of Portland Perkins the Great (1906)
Eight episodes in the career of Perkins of Portland, the greatest American promoter of the early twentieth century. Read online at archive.org.
Philo Gubb: Correspondence School Detective (1918)
Seventeen adventures of the world’s first correspondence school detective. Read online at archive.org.
Pigs Is Pigs (1905)
Mike Flannery, the Westcote agent of the Interurban Express Company determines that guinea pigs should pay the same freight as hogs, not pets. The consignee refuses to pay and Mike ends up with a rapidly multiplying stock of guinea pigs.
Pigs Is Pigs (1906)
Mike Flannery, the Westcote agent of the Interurban Express Company determines that guinea pigs should pay the same freight as hogs, not pets. The consignee refuses to pay and Mike ends up with a rapidly multiplying stock of guinea pigs. Read online at archive.org.
Pups and Pies (1927)
An omnibus edition containing That Pup, Mike Flannery, The Thin Santa Claus, The Water Goats and The Great American Pie Company.
Pups and Pies (1938)
An omnibus edition containing That Pup, Mike Flannery, The Thin Santa Claus, The Water Goats and The Great American Pie Company.
Red Head and Whistle Breeches (1915)
When Mike Murphy goes to beg a pardon of the governor for his son, he knows the governor will recognize him as the boy who used to beat him up every day - and he does, with gratitude. Read online at archive.org.
The Revolt: A Play in One Act (1912)
The suffragettes prepare to take over the world. Read online at archive.org.
The Strack Platform Readings (1925)
A collection of humorous stories suitable for recitation.
Swatty: A Story of Real Boys (1920)
A story of boyhood adventures along the Mississippi in Muscatine, Iowa. Read online at archive.org.
Frank Schoonover
That Pup (1908)
Murchison has a dog he wants to get rid of. The true story of Fluff, ‘that pup of Murchison’s.’ Read online at archive.org.
The Thin Santa Claus: The Chicken Yard That Was a Christmas Stocking (1909)
On Christmas morning Mrs. Gratz wakes to find her hen house robbed of nine hens and a rooster - but the robber has left behind his purse containing nine hundred dollars. Read online at Hathitrust.