Winesburg, Ohio is a 1919 short story cycle by the American author Sherwood Anderson. The work is structured around the life of protagonist George Willard, from the time he was a child to his growing independence and ultimate abandonment of Winesburg as a young man. It is set in the fictional town of Winesburg, Ohio, which is loosely based on Anderson's childhood memories of Clyde, Ohio.
First edition title page
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and Elyria, Ohio. In 1912, Anderson had a nervous breakdown that led him to abandon his business and family to become a writer.
Anderson in 1923
"Roof-Fix carried us to Elyria" wrote Sherwood Anderson's wife, Cornelia Lane, of the product her husband started a company to sell.
Advertisement for the Anderson Manufacturing Co., a company owned by Sherwood Anderson from 1907 to 1913, almost a decade before he became a well-known author
Anderson in 1933