Cooper, Susan Fenimore

American novelist, nature writer, editor and a philanthropist, Susan was the daughter of James Fenimore Cooper. She was born in Mamaroneck, New York. Her novel Elinor Wyllys (1845) was published under the pen name Amabel Penfeather with a preface written by her father. Her Rural Hours: Or, Some Chapters on Flowers, Birds, and Insects (1850) was brilliantly received in the United States and England and reprinted nine times from 1850 to 1876. It gained Cooper a permanent place as a pioneering naturalist. Susan is one of the first American women to publish an extended work on nature. She recorded geologic and human history, described animal and plant life, and gave warning about the diminishment of certain species and extravagant use of natural resources. In 1861, she compiled her father’s work entitled Pages and Pictures, from the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper.;

American novelist, nature writer, editor and a philanthropist. Susan was the daughter of famous writer James Fenimore Cooper. She is one of the first American women to publish an extended work on nature.;