"Margaret Blount," according to various authorities each of whom may have copied the others, was the pen name of Mrs. Mary O'Francis. †The name should have been given in Allibone and various dictionaries of pseudonyms as Mary O. Francis. The slight difference between "O'" and "O." was very misleading when looking for the name in alphabetical lists. In fact, Allibone gave a cross-reference to "Mary O'Francis," but neither "O'Francis" nor "Francis" appears. The name is given correctly as Mary O. Francis in William Abbatt's The Colloquial Who's Who, American and Canadian Authors, Tarrytown, N.Y., 1924, I, 32. It is possible that it was the author's maiden name, for Mr. H. W. Ralston,⁽¹⁾ vice president of Street & Smith, for whom she wrote, said that "Margaret Blount is the actual name of an author," and added that he did not know her married name. The name "Margaret Blount" was the only one of Mary O. Francis' various names given in the by-lines of those of her novels that were published by Beadle. For these novels see "Mary O. Francis" in this supplement. †

REFERENCES: John Edward Haynes, Pseudonyms of Authors, New York, 1882; William Cushing, Initials and Pseudonyms, New York, 1886, 37, 512; Allibone, Supplement, II, Philadelphia, 1891, 1188; Halkett and Laing, Dictionary of Anonymous and Pseudonymous English Literature, Edinburgh and London, 1926; Street and Smith's Literary Album, II, No. 27, June 23, 1866.

† Correction made as per Volume 3.

Notes

1	In litteris, January 20, 1943. †