author
Charles Sotheran
1847–1902
A lively 19th-century journalist and bibliographer, he moved through New York’s worlds of books, radical politics, and early Theosophy. His best-known work looks back at reformers and socialist thinkers in the United States.
1 Audiobook
Percy Bysshe Shelley as a Philosopher and Reformer
by Charles Sotheran
About the author
Born in England in 1847 and later active in the United States, Charles Sotheran worked as a journalist, bibliographer, bookseller, and man of letters. Sources on his life consistently connect him with New York literary culture in the late 1800s, where he built a reputation as a knowledgeable antiquarian and book-minded writer.
He is often remembered for his part in the early history of the Theosophical Society. Multiple reference sources say he was present at its founding in New York in 1875, served as librarian, and is sometimes credited with suggesting the name "Theosophical Society."
As an author, he is best known for Horace Greeley and Other Pioneers of American Socialism (1892), a work that reflects his interest in political reform and intellectual history. He died in New York in 1902, leaving behind the picture of a wide-ranging, curious figure whose career linked books, ideas, and public debate.