William Wymark Jacobs, usually known as W.W. Jacobs, was a prominent Edwardian horror and crime writer, playwright, and humorist; he is perhaps best known for his 1902 short story, “The Monkey’s Paw.”
Jacobs was born in 1863 in Wapping, a part of East London near the Thames. His father was a wharf manager. As a child he was known to be rather shy, but he enjoyed traveling to visit his relatives in East Anglia. After leaving private school at sixteen he became a postal bank clerk. He then worked in the savings bank department from 1883-1899.
In 1885 he began to submit some of his writing to Blackfriars, The Idler, and Today. He was also published in the Strand. His first collection was...
