Goodrich, Samuel Griswold

Goodrich, Samuel Griswold (Peter Parley, pen name) (1793–1860) publisher, writer; born in Ridgefield, Conn. Beginning as a bookseller and publisher in Hartford, Conn. (1816), he traveled often before settling in Boston (1826), where he edited and published The Token (1828–42), a giftbook annual where many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's tales appeared. Adopting the persona of a kindly old man and the pen name of "Peter Parley," he imparted sugarcoated instruction to children in over 100 books—such as The Tales of Peter Parley About America (1827)—many probably written by collaborators. He established Parley's Magazine (1833). In both England and America his work was often imitated and pirated.