Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 2, 2012



Talbot Baines Reed (1852–1893) was an English writer of boys' fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the second half of the 20th century and was widely imitated. Among his best-known work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy's Own Paper, in which most of his fiction first appeared. Through his family's business, Reed became a prominent typefounder, and wrote a classic History of the Old English Letter Foundries which,  published in 1887,  was hailed as the standard work on the subject. Reed's affinity with boys, his instinctive understanding of their standpoint in life and his gift for creating believable characters, ensured that his popularity survived through several generations. He also wrote regular articles and book reviews for his cousin Edward Baines's newspaper, the Leeds Mercury. After struggling with illness for most of 1893, Reed died in November that year, at the age of 41. Tributes honoured him both for his contribution to children's fiction and for his work as the definitive historian of English typefounding. (more...)

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