Bertrand Collins

Edward Bertrand Collins (March 15, 1893 - December 16, 1964), commonly known as Bertrand Collins, was an American author from Seattle, Washington.[1][2]

Edward Bertrand Collins
Born(1893-03-15)March 15, 1893
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
DiedDecember 16, 1964(1964-12-16) (aged 71)
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materHarvard University
Occupationauthor
Parents
  • John Collins (father)
  • Angela Burdett (mother)

Collins was born in Seattle to John Collins and his much younger wife, Angela. As a child, he was playmates with the lumber heiress Dorothy Stimson Bullitt, who grew up near to the Collins' home. His father died in 1903 and, ten years later, the young Collins received a disbursement of $834,000 from his father's estate.[lower-alpha 1] [3][4][5]

Collins graduated from Harvard University in 1914 and, in 1917 was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy, serving at the navy's European headquarters in London before taking a shipboard posting on USS Housatonic. In the 1920s he traveled extensively in Europe. A profile of Collins published in a 1930 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described him as "swarthy" and "good-looking" with "Celtic blue eyes and a ... slight British accent".[6][7]

Collins often played on his privileged upbringing to engage in witty commentary that was "extremely audacious in a well bred manner". In 1934, after driving back to Seattle from New York City, he declared in a newspaper interview that the United States was "too big", remarking that "New England is about right ... and the Pacific Coast would make a nice, other Italy" but that he didn't see any use for the rest of the country, implying the Midwest.[6][8][4]

Collins' 1928 novel Rome Express is based on the life of his contemporary, and fellow wealthy Seattle cosmopolitan, Guendolen Plestcheeff.[9]

Bibliography
  • Rome Express (1928)
  • The Silver Swan (1930)
  • Moon in the West (1933)

Notes
  1. An amount equivalent to about $20 million in 2015.
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References
  1. Trombold, John (2014). Reading Seattle: The City in Prose. University of Washington Press. p. 12. ISBN 0295805552.
  2. Easton, Valerie (December 22, 2016). "Book City: Historians read the heaviest books". Crosscut. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  3. "Navy Officer's Wife to Get $834,000". San Francisco Call. September 5, 1913.
  4. Dorpat, Paul (March 14, 2014). "From this grand Seattle home came a trove of good deeds". Seattle Times. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  5. Haley, Delphine (1995). Dorothy Stimson Bullitt: An Uncommon Life. Sasquatch Books. p. 28. ISBN 1570610290.
  6. Keating, Isabelle (October 10, 1930). "Women Will Ruin U.S., Collins Fears". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  7. Harvard College Class of 1914. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. 1921. p. 55.
  8. "Militancy Avoided". Oakland Tribune. August 26, 1934. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  9. Duncan, Don (November 2, 1990). "An Extraordinary Life -- Her Life As A Social Butterfly Not Enough For Plestcheeff". Seattle Times. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
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