Nom de Plume, I Assume

Early in Lloyd's writing career, it seems he wasn't yet feeling confident in his work. So, in this collection, Ventures In Verse (1876), he used the pen name 'Victor Leon.' He must have felt a bit more accomplished with his art work, since the book was illustrated and, on that, he claimed the credit with his actual name. Many years later, he looked back on this effort by saying: "There is nothing in this early volume which I wish perpetuated. The poetry of this book is not worth considering, the sonority of many of the lines being their chief cause for existence. I burned many copies—I was trying for rich-sounding words. The whole is the work of a tyro ['novice']. Judge me by my Collected Sonnets." --Lloyd Mifflin / The graphic shown here was created solely for this post. It does NOT represent Lloyd's actual book, nor Victor's.

This is a simulated cover. The original is all but unknown (but still looking).

Note: In some catalogue listings, this is erroneously listed as Ventures Into Verse. This title was in fact penned by H. L. Mencken. His title was, in full, Ventures Into Verse: Being various ballads, ballades, rondeaux. triolets, songs, quatrains, odes, and roundels, all recued from the Potter's Field of old files and here given decent burial.