Thomas Sergeant Perry

Thomas Sergeant Perry (1845–1928) was an American editor, academic, literary critic, literary translator, and literary historian. He was a lifelong friend and associate of Henry James and a member of the faculty at Harvard University.

Early life Thomas Sergeant Perry was born on January 23, 1845, in Newport, Rhode Island. His parents were Christopher Grant Perry and Frances Sergeant Perry. His paternal grandparents were Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, brother of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, and Elizabeth Champlin Mason Perry. Perry was his great-great-grandson. before the Civil War. Perry met John La Farge, who later married his sister Margaret, through James.

Perry earned his Bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1866 and his Masters in 1869. He studied in Paris and Berlin between 1866 and 1868.

Edwin Arlington Robinson dedicated his book of poetry, The Three Taverns, to Lilla and Thomas Perry.

Personal life On April 9, 1874, he married Lilla Cabot, an American painter who was an important figure in Impressionism in the United States. The couple had three daughters:

Margaret Perry (b. 1876) Edith Perry (b. 1880) Alice Perry (b. 1884), who married Joseph Clark Grew (1880–1965), the Under Secretary of State, and later, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan during the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor

Thomas Sergeant Perry died on May 7, 1928, after being ill with pneumonia.

Works His published works include:

Editor North American Review, 1872-74 Life and Letters of Francis Lieber, 1882 English Literature in the Eighteenth Century, 1873

Author

Selections from the Letters of Thomas Sergeant Perry (1929, Macmillan Company) Edited by Edwin Arlington Robinson - Included are letters to Mrs. John La Farge; Mrs. Christopher Grant Perry; Moorfield Storey; William James; Rev. H. W. Fay; John T. Morse, Jr.; Salomon Reinach; Joseph C. Grew.

Translator He also made translations from French and German.