Charles E. (Charles Edward) Bolton

Born in South Hadley Falls, Massachusetts, on May 16, 1841, Charles Edward Bolton became known as an American businessman, philanthropist, and author. Library and reference sources connect him with Cleveland and list works including What to Read and How to Write, Travels in Europe and America, and The Harris-Ingram Experiment, which appeared after his death.

He wrote across several modes rather than sticking to a single lane. Some of his books were practical and educational, aimed at helping readers choose worthwhile books and improve their writing, while others drew on travel and speculation. That mix gives him the feel of a nineteenth-century public-minded man of letters: interested not only in ideas, but in how ordinary readers might use them.

Bolton died in 1901. He is also noted as the husband of writer and poet Sarah Knowles Bolton, and the two are often remembered together in literary reference works from the period.