Parrish, Anne (1888–1957)

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Parrish, Anne (1888–1957)

American writer and illustrator. Born on November 12, 1888, in Colorado Springs, Colorado; died of a cerebral hemorrhage on September 5, 1957, in Danbury, Connecticut; daughter of Maxfield Parrish (the illustrator) and Anne Lodge Parrish (a painter); sister-in-law ofM.F.K. Fisher ; educated in private schools in Colorado and Delaware and studied art at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women; married Charles Albert Corliss, in 1915 (died 1936); married Josiah Titzell (a poet who wrote novels as Frederick Lambeck), in 1938.

Selected writings:

Pocketful of Poses (1923); (for children) Knee High to a Grasshopper (with Dillwyn Parrish, 1923); (for children) The Dream Coach (with D. Parrish, 1924); Lustres (with D. Parrish, 1924); Semi-Attached (1924); The Perennial Bachelor (1925); Tomorrow Morning (1926); All Kneeling (1928); The Methodist Faun (1929); (for children) Floating Island (1930); Loads of Love (1932); Sea Level (1934); Golden Wedding (1936); Mr. Despondency's Daughter (1938); Pray for a Tomorrow (1941); Poor Child (1945); A Clouded Star (1948); (for children) The Story of Appleby Capple (1950); And Have Not Love (1954); The Lucky One (1958).

Anne Parrish was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1888, the daughter of Anne Lodge Parrish , a portrait painter, and famed illustrator Maxfield Parrish. She spent her childhood in Colorado Springs and at the home of her grandmother in Claymont, Delaware, later claiming to have been "slightly educated" in private schools in both those states. She then studied painting at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, but decided against a career in art and turned instead to writing. Parrish did not completely abandon her art education, however, for she wrote and illustrated two of her early books in collaboration with her brother Dillwyn, who was also an artist and writer. One of these, The Dream Coach (1924), was nominated for the prestigious Newbery Medal, as were two more of her books for children, Floating Island (1930) and The Story of Appleby Capple (1950).

Parrish wrote more than a dozen novels for adults, many of which featured protagonists who have been described as "poseurs" (the title of one of her earliest books was A Pocketful of Poses) and a "sharply contrived" style of writing that evinced little sympathy for her characters. The Perennial Bachelor (1925) won the Harper Prize, and All Kneeling (1928) became a bestseller, but none of her books remain in print. Parrish lived in New York for many years, and traveled frequently; she claimed to have visited every country except Russia and Australia. Later in life she moved to Connecticut with her second husband, writer Josiah Titzell, where she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1957.