Edward Stratemeyer

Edward Stratemeyer (1862–1930) was an American writer and publisher of series fiction for children, probably the most prolific author of his kind. Born in New Jersey, he wrote dime novels and completed unfinished manuscripts by Horatio Alger before launching The Rover Boys in 1899 under the name Arthur M. Winfield, a series that ran to thirty volumes. In 1905 he founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which supplied outlines to hired writers and produced the Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys and, in the year of his death, Nancy Drew. He is credited with some 1,300 books under many pseudonyms.