Archibald Clavering Gunter, (1847–1907)
Archibald Clavering Gunter’s life mirrored the mobility and ambition of the late 19th century. Born in Liverpool and raised in Gold Rush–era San Francisco, he crossed professions – from engineer to chemist to stockbroker – before achieving success as a playwright and popular novelist in New York. His fiction, like his life, travelled widely. Propelled by the boom in transatlantic liner traffic and the rise of mass-market publishing, Gunter’s vividly packaged yellowbacks reached readers in both hemispheres, offering tales of imperial aspiration, financial speculation, racialized social theory, and melodramatic romance. Once said to rival Mark Twain in name recognition, Gunter turned global mobility into literary commodity, channelling the values and anxieties of a world in flux.
Furin Chime Press™ 