Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Webb, Philip Speakman

(Encyclopedia)Webb, Philip Speakman, 1831–1915, English architect. His influence, together with that of R. N. Shaw and W. E. Nesfield, established after the mid-19th cent. a revival of residential architecture ba...

Wright, Judith

(Encyclopedia)Wright, Judith (Judith Arundell Wright), 1915–2000, Australian poet. After graduating from the Univ. of Sydney, she worked variously as a clerk, secretary, and statistician. She is regarded as one o...

Wilson, Colin

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Colin, 1931–2013, English writer, b. Leicester. Born into a working-class family and largely self-educated, Wilson in many of his books exhorts humankind to expand its powers and realize its...

Travers, P. L.

(Encyclopedia)Travers, P. L. (Pamela Lyndon Travers), 1899–1996, British author best known for her Mary Poppins children's books, b. Australia as Helen Lyndon Goff. She worked as an actress and journalist and mov...

Billings, Josh

(Encyclopedia)Billings, Josh, pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw, 1818–85, American humorist and lecturer, b. Lanesboro, Mass. After a roving life as farmer, explorer, and coal miner, he settled in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ...

Canetti, Elias

(Encyclopedia)Canetti, Elias kənĕtˈē [key], 1905–94, English novelist and essayist, b. Ruschuk (now Ruse), Bulgaria. He came from a Sephardic Jewish background, spent most of his early years in Vienna, and, f...

Green, Samuel Swett

(Encyclopedia)Green, Samuel Swett, 1837–1918, American librarian, b. Worcester, Mass. Green was librarian of the Worcester, Mass., Free Public Library (1871–1909) and was a member of the Free Public Library Com...

Evans, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Evans, Maurice, 1901–89, Welsh-American actor. Evans came into prominence in 1928 and in 1934 was a leading man with the Old Vic. He first appeared on Broadway in 1936 in Romeo and Juliet with Katha...

Guardi, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Guardi, Francesco fränchāsˈkō gwärˈdē [key], 1712–93, Venetian landscape and architectural painter. A follower of Canaletto, he developed a freer style of great brilliance. Guardi's work rang...

Pitoëff, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Pitoëff, Georges zhôrzh pēˈtōĕf [key], 1884–1939, Russian actor-manager. Although he had both engineering and law degrees, Pitoeff was drawn to the theater. He directed his own amateur company...