
Today In Literary History: The Birth of Edward Bulwer Lytton “It was a dark and stormy night” …..Well maybe not but Edward Bulwer-Lytton was born this day and he first wrote the phrase. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed", "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", as well as the well-known opening line "It was a dark and stormy night". Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC (1803 –1873), was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. Bulwer-Lytton's literary career began in 1820, with the publication of a book of poems, and spanned much of the nineteenth century. He wrote in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, romance, the occult, and science fiction. He financed his extravagant ...