LONDON, JACK (1876-1916), American novelist, was born at San Francisco Jan. 12 1876 and educated at the university of California. He was a born adventurer, going to sea at the age of 17 and serving before the mast as A.B. He went with the first rush to Klondike in 1897 and tramped across the States and Canada, being in gaol more than once as a vagabond. In 1904 he went to Japan as war correspondent and in 1914 to Mexico in the same capacity. In 1906 he started on a voyage round the world in a 50-ft. ketch-rigged yacht and disappeared for two years. His novels, for the most part published first in London, reflect his wild adventurous life, the best known being The Son of the Wolf (1900); The Call of the Wild (1903); Moon Face (1906); Martin Eden (1909); South Sea Tales (1912), and his last, The Little Lady of the Big House (1916). He died at Glen Ellen, Cal., Nov. 22 1916.
See The Book of Jack London (1921), by his wife Charmian London.