Captain Latham C. Carleton⁽¹⁾ was one of Edward S. Ellis' many pseudonyms. For novels written under this name, see Ellis.

Notes

1

"Viola Vennon; or, Life on the Border," by Edward S. Ellis, originally appeared as a serial in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper, beginning July 2, 1862, in Volume XX. It was reprinted in Irwin P. Beadle's Ten Cent Novels, No. 1, under the title "The Hunters; or, Life on the Mountain and Prairie," in 1863, and its sequel, "The Trapper's Retreat," in No. 2 of the same series. Here, however, the pen name "Captain Latham C. Carleton" was used. Later it reappeared as "The Fighting Trapper; or Kit Carson to the Rescue," in Dime Library No. 68, with the author's name as "Captain J. F. C. Adams." The story was partly rewritten and there were slight changes in the names of the characters, such as Seth Potter for Jared Potter, and so on. In some cases one or the other has additional matter, but on the whole the stories are identical, and page after page are alike. "Carleton" and "Adams," therefore, are both pen names of Ellis. Ellis claimed that he disliked the type of stories that George Munro published, and while Nos. 1 and 2 of Irivin P. Beadle's Ten Cent Novels were published by Irwin P. Beadle & Co., which consisted of George Munro and Irwin Beadle, Ellis may have considered that he was writing for Beadle. It is true that some of the later Munro's Ten Cent Novels were credited to Latham C. Carleton, so either Ellis did write for him under the pseudonym "Carleton," or Munro, when he bought out Irwin Beadle, considered the name Carleton a stock name—a procedure quite common later with Street & Smith—and engaged other authors to write under that signature. Perhaps some of Ellis' stories were on hand when Irwin sold out, and were then used at a later time. Stock names were never used by Beadle, nor by Munro as early as this, so far as I can discover, and it is certain that all of the Beadle "Carleton" stories are by Ellis. They are quite in his style. The name "Latham C. Carleton" was also signed to stories in Golden Days and Boys' Holiday. G. Waldo Browne asserted (Granite State Magazine, III, 1907, 56) that "Capt. Latham C. Carleton" and "Burke Brentford" were two of Col. Arthur Meserve's pen names, and that J. H. Robinson was one of Sylvanus Cobb, Jr.'s. Robinson (q.v.) however, was a real person and "Burke Brentford" was Nathan D. Urner, consequently his assertion with regard to "Latham C. Carleton may be disregarded."