Mary Ann Lamb (1764–1847) and Charles Lamb (1775–1834) were born in London to John and Elizabeth Lamb. While Mary was the third of the seven children, Charles was the youngest. Their father, John Lamb, worked for Samuel Salt, an English lawyer and politician. The young Lambs were allowed access to Salt’s library. At a very young age, Charles was taught to read by Mary.
In 1806, they wrote Tales from Shakespeare to familiarize the young with Shakespeare’s plays. While Mary was responsible for the comedies, Charles wrote the tragedies. A collection of twenty stories, it was published in 1807 and has never been out of print.
The following year, Mary wrote and published her collection of tales titled Mrs. Leicester’s School. Poems for Children, another work by Charles and Mary, was published in 1810. Charles began writing essays which first appeared in The London Magazine in 1820. His collection titled Essays of Elia was published in 1823.
The second volume of his essays titled Last Essays of Elia were published by the publisher Edward Moxon in 1833. Charles breathed his last on December 27, 1834 and was buried at the All Saints’ Churchyard, Edmonton. Mary outlasted him by more than a decade. She died on May 20, 1847 and was buried next to Charles in the Churchyard.