William Dean Howells (March 1, 1837 - May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary critic, and playwright. Nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters", he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day", and the novels The Rise of Silas Lapham and A Traveler from Altruria. Augustus Hoppin (1828-1896) was an American book illustrator, born in Providence, R. I.. He graduated at Brown University in 1848 and was admitted to the bar, but soon gave up the law and went abroad to study art. Upon his return he devoted himself to drawing on wood and to the illustration of books, in which he was successful. His pictures in Nothing to Wear (1857), Poliphar Papers (1853), and The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858) are widely known. He published several volumes of sketches and novels, among the latter Recollections of Auton House (1881) and Married for Fun (1885).