[Ads-l] Adage Origin: The Only Good Author Is a Dead Author

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Living authors are often viewed with a mixture of suspicion and
aggravation. Here are three versions of a pertinent adage:

(1) The only good author is a dead author.
(2) All good authors are dead authors.
(3) The best author is a dead author.

Jesse Sheidlower inquired off-line about this saying. Interestingly,
there are two different interpretations. Publishers and editors use
the adage to encapsulate a collection of complaints about writers,
e.g., late manuscripts, poor quality writing, and exorbitant monetary
demands.

Academics and critics use the adage to signal that a delay is required
when evaluating the worthiness of a writer. Typically, the quality,
impact, and longevity of a literary oeuvre can only be accurately
judged many years after the author has died.

Here is a link to the QI article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/09/16/good-author/

The earliest match I found in the domain of publishing and editing
appeared on September 29, 1886. Anonymous editors received credit. The
earliest match in the domain of criticism and academia appeared on May
29, 1895. The attribution was anonymous. Here is the beginning of an
overview showing selected examples together with dates and
attributions:

1886 Sep 29: … they will not pay a man for manuscript unless he will
agree to die before it is put in print. This precaution is taken so
that the author can’t come in afterward and “cuss” about the bad
proofreading. Also on the theory that the only really good author is a
dead one. (Attributed to anonymous “western editors”)

1895 May 29: We must not conclude that all good books are old books,
nor that all good authors are dead authors. (Anonymous)

1903 Feb: It is unnecessary to assume, of course, that the only good
authors are dead authors. Undue depreciation of the literature of the
day may be quite as futile as undue approval … (Edward Fuller)

1906 Sep 20: From the teacher’s point of view one is tempted to lay
down the rule that the only good authors are dead authors. (Irving
Babbitt)

1916 Apr 22: It is a mistake to suppose that the only good authors are
dead ones. Some colleges have fostered the idea that literary genius
is extinct. (A. S. Mackenzie)

1919 May: They were often bookworms that had bored their way through
countless musty volumes, it being their first axiom that the only good
author is a dead author. (Attitude ascribed to “old college
professors” by Elizabeth Hodgson)

1921 May: There have always been—there will always be—people like Mr.
Knox, who feel that the only good author is a dead author, and the
only good story an unpopular story. (Attitude ascribed to Vicesimus
Knox by an unnamed writer)

Earlier citations and interesting material would be welcome.
Garson

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