author
Henry Bryan Binns
1873–1923
A versatile English writer remembered for poetry, literary criticism, and thoughtful biographies, he moved easily between creative work and studies of major cultural figures. His books on Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln helped introduce those subjects to early 20th-century readers.
2 Audiobooks
A Life of Walt Whitman
by Henry Bryan Binns
Botticelli
by Henry Bryan Binns
About the author
Born in Ulverston on May 14, 1873, Henry Bryan Binns was an English poet and biographer. Early accounts describe him as the son of Richard and Elizabeth Bryan Binns, educated at schools in Christchurch and Hitchin, and already recognized as a promising young poet.
Binns wrote across several genres between the early 1900s and the early 1920s. He published poetry under his own name and, at times, under the pseudonym Richard Askham. His best-known prose includes A Life of Walt Whitman and later writing on Whitman, as well as a biography of Abraham Lincoln. He also wrote on art and other cultural subjects, showing a wide range of interests rather than staying in one narrow field.
Published biographical information about him appears to be limited, but library and archive records show a steady body of work up to the year before his death in 1923. That mix of poetry, criticism, and biography gives his writing a distinctly literary feel, while still making large historical and artistic personalities approachable for general readers.