Book: Four Young Explorers

Cover of book by Oliver Optic (pseudonym), entitled "Four Young Explorers; or, Sight-seeing in the Tropics." Published in Boston by Lee and Shepard, 1896. Oliver Optic was one of the pen names used by teacher and author William Taylor Adams (1822-1897). A teacher in Boston area schools, Adams wrote 126 books and over 1,000 short stories. These adventure stories had the authenticity that a writer who traveled frequently and read a number of languages could provide, generally with main character(s) overcoming difficult but real challenges. The cover of this novel shows a state of the art 1896 sail and steam exploration vessel.