author
Henry Walcott Boynton
1869–1947
A sharp-eyed American critic and editor, he spent decades helping readers make sense of literature and the book world. His work ranges from studies of major writers like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper to broader reflections on journalism, reading, and American bookselling.
2 Audiobooks
Washington Irving
by Henry Walcott Boynton
The Golfer's Rubaiyat
by Henry Walcott Boynton
About the author
Born in Guilford, Connecticut, on April 22, 1869, he studied at Amherst College, earning his A.B. in 1891 and his A.M. in 1893. He then taught English at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from 1892 to 1901 before turning fully to literary work.
He became known as a reviewer and critic with a long presence in American literary journalism. Archival and library sources show that he reviewed books for The Atlantic Monthly from 1901 to 1904, joined the regular staff of The Nation and the New York Evening Post beginning in 1912, and wrote criticism for The Bookman from 1915. He also wrote and edited numerous books, and some of his creative work appeared under the pseudonym John Walcott.
His books reflect a wide curiosity about authors, publishing, and reading culture. Among the works confirmed in major library catalogs are Washington Irving (1901), James Fenimore Cooper, and Annals of American Bookselling, 1638–1850 (1932). He died in 1947, leaving behind a career that connected literary criticism, biography, and the history of books.