author
Henry H. Gibson
b. 1855
Best known for American Forest Trees, this early 20th-century writer brought practical knowledge of U.S. timber and tree species to a wide audience. His work grew out of years spent in the lumber trade and publishing, giving it both authority and an easy, readable style.
1 Audiobook
American Forest Trees
by Henry H. Gibson
About the author
Born in 1855, Henry H. Gibson was an American lumberman, journalist, editor, and magazine proprietor. He is chiefly remembered for American Forest Trees (1913), a substantial guide to the trees and timber of the United States, edited by Hu Maxwell.
The book drew on articles that had first appeared over several years in Hardwood Record, a Chicago publication closely tied to the wood-products trade. That background helps explain the character of Gibson's writing: it is informed by hands-on industry knowledge, but it also has a clear interest in the natural history of forests and the uses of different woods.
Available records confirm the broad outlines of his career and identify him as having lived from 1855 to 1914. Reliable biographical detail beyond that is limited in the sources I could confirm, so it is best to remember him mainly through the influential forestry and timber writing he left behind.