Brett Harte and Jon Presco

Francis Bret Harte (August 25, 1836[1] – May 5, 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales have been most often reprinted, adapted, and admired.

Bret Harte was born in Albany, New York.[2] He was named Francis Brett Hart after his great-grandfather, Francis Brett. When he was young, his father, Henry, changed the spelling of the family name from Hart to Harte. Henry’s father was Bernard Hart, an Orthodox Jewish immigrant who flourished as a merchant, becoming one of the founders of the New York Stock Exchange.[3][4] Later, Francis preferred to be known by his middle name, but he spelled it with only one “t”, becoming Bret Harte.[citation needed]

Harte married Anna Griswold on August 11, 1862, in San Rafael, California.[9] From the start, the marriage was rocky. Some suggested she was handicapped by extreme jealousy while an early biographer of Harte, Henry C. Merwin, privately concluded that she was “almost impossible to live with”.[6]

Harte’s first literary efforts, including poetry and prose, appeared in The Californian, an early literary journal edited by Charles Henry Webb. In 1868, he became editor of The Overland Monthly, another new literary magazine, but this one more in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. His story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” appeared in the magazine’s second issue, propelling Harte to nationwide fame.

Overland Monthly was a monthly magazine based in California, United States, and published in the 19th and 20th centuries.

SF Chronicle Mutt and Jeff Advertisement in the Overland, 1916

Overland Monthly cover, January 1919

The magazine’s first issue was in July 1868, published by Bret Harte in San Francisco, and continued until the late 1875. The original publishers, in 1880, started The Californian, which became The Californian and Overland Monthly in October 1882. In January 1883, the effort reverted to The Overland Monthly (starting again with Volume I, number 1). It was based in San Francisco until at least 1921.[1] In 1923 the magazine merged with Out West to become Overland Monthly and the Out West magazine, and ended publication in July 1935.

Noted writers, editors, and artists associated with the magazine included:

• Ambrose Bierce
• Alice Cary
• Willa Cather
• Frona Eunice Wait Colburn
• Bret Harte
• Ina Coolbrith
• Edgar Fawcett
• Henry George
• John Brayshaw Kaye
• Clarence King
• Jack London
• Josephine Clifford McCracken
• Joaquin Miller
• John Muir
• Hugo Wilhelm Arthur Nahl
• Lola Ridge – poet, had her first poem published in the US in 1908 here
• Stephen Powers – on California Native Americans.
• William Saroyan
• Clark Ashton Smith
• Charles Warren Stoddard
• Augustus Gabriel de Vivier Tassin
• Mark Twain
• Joseph Pomeroy Widney – contributed 8 articles.

Editors include:

• Milicent Shinn 1882-1894

The Land of Sunshine was a magazine published in Los Angeles, California between 1894 and 1923.[1]:51[2] It was renamed Out West in January 1902.[1]:66 In 1923, it merged into Overland Monthly to become Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, which existed until 1935.[1]:51 The magazine published the work of many notable authors, including John Muir, Jack London, Mary Hunter Austin, Sharlot Hall, and Sui Sin Far (Edith Maude Eaton).[2][3]:117 The Land of Sunshine was also known for its “lavish” use of illustrations, many of which were halftone photoengravings.[1]:53 In the words of Jon Wilkman, the magazine “extolled the wonders of Southern California and had a major influence on the region’s early image and appeal to tourists”.[4]

When word of Charles Dickens‘ death reached Harte in July 1870, he immediately sent a dispatch across the bay to San Francisco to hold back the forthcoming publication of his Overland Monthly for 24 hours, so that he could compose the poetic tribute, “Dickens in Camp”. This work is considered by many of Harte’s admirers as his verse masterpiece, for its evident sincerity, the depth of feeling it displays, and the unusual quality of its poetic expression.

Bernard Hart, an Orthodox Jewish immigrant who flourished as a merchant, becoming one of the founders of the New York Stock Exchange.[3][4] Later, Francis preferred to be known by his middle name, but he spelled it with only one “t”, becoming Bret Harte ——————–