Myrtle Reed

Myrtle Reed (September 27, 1874–August 17, 1911) was an American author, poet, and journalist, the daughter of Elizabeth Armstrong Reed and the preacher Hiram von Reed. She wrote a number of bestsellers and even published a series of cookbooks under the pseudonym Olive Green.

She was born in Illinois and graduated from the West Division High School, Chicago, IL. In 1906 she married James Sydney McCullough, a Canadian pen-pal. She died August 17, 1911 of a drug overdose in Chicago, Illinois. Her suicide letter was published the following day.

Among her books (some of them were very popular) are:

• Love Letters of a Musician (1899)
• Later Love Letters of a Musician (1900)
• The Spinster Book (1901)
• Lavender and Old Lace (1902; new edition, 1907)
• Pickaback Songs (1903)
• The Book of Clever Beasts (1904)
• The Master's Violin (1904)
• At the Sign of the Jack o' Lantern (1905), made into a silent film directed by Lloyd Ingraham in 1922
• A Spinner in the Sun (1906, new edition, 1909)
• Love Affairs of Literary Men (1907)
• Old Rose and Silver (1909)
• Master of the Vineyard (1910; new edition, 1911)
• Sonnets to a Lover (1910)
• A Weaver of Dreams (1911)
• Threads of Grey and Gold (1913)

She also published a series of cook books under the pseudonym of Olive Green.

• What to Have for Breakfast (1905)
• How to Cook Fish (1908)
• How to Cook Meat and Poultry
• One Thousand Simple Soups (1907)
• One Thousand Salads (1909)

The following works were published posthumously:

• Everyday Desserts (1911)
• Myrtle Reed Cookbook (1916)

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

• The Literature Network
• Works by Myrtle Reed at Project Gutenberg
• "Hell in Paradise Flat" from Chicago Magazine, Aug 2006