Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr : 35 books

American author and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. draws on his medical background to lend credence to the creepy central premise of his novel Elsie Venner. When a woman suffers a snakebite during pregnancy, the trauma leads to unforeseen -- and horrific -- consequences.

Best known for his essays and poetry, physician and Harvard professor Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. delved into the domain of biography with his 1876 John Lothrop Motley: A Memoir. This work presents readers with an encyclopedic account of the life and accomplishments of the renowned American historian, novelist and diplomat.

Published in 1890, "Over the Teacups" is the last of Oliver Wendell Holmes’s fabled “table talk” books. A collection of charming and witty essays, written in the form of a novel, with Holmes’s characteristic engaging voice, this is a tour de force from Holmes, who was nearly eighty years old when he began composing these pieces.

Published in 1890, Over the Teacups is the last of Oliver Wendell Holmes’s fabled “table talk” books. A collection of charming and witty essays, written in the form of a novel, with Holmes’s characteristic engaging voice, this is a tour de force from Holmes, who was nearly eighty years old when he began composing these pieces.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was a physician and Harvard professor who rose to literary acclaim on the strength of his essays, poetry and novels, many of which drew on his medical knowledge. In this, Holmes' third and final novel, a young man who has suffered through a number of awkward romantic encounters develops a toxic and deep-seated fear of women.

In 1886, exhausted and mourning the death of his youngest son, Holmes and his daughter, Amelia, traveled to England and France, where they visited various friends, distinguished writers, and where Holmes received a number of honorary doctorates. This memoir is an elegantly composed travelogue of their trip.

Holmes’s inspiration for this engaging biography of John Lothrop Motley (1814–1877), was his personal relationship with the American historian and diplomat who wrote the incomparable Rise of the Dutch Republic. Holmes also studies Motley’s correspondence.