James H. Head

James H. Head was a 19th-century American author and editor who died in 1869 at age 38. He is most closely associated with Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants, a book that went through multiple editions in the 1860s and offered readers a lively guide to staging “living pictures” at home.

He also edited Jewels from the Quarry of the Mind, an anthology of poems and reflections published in Boston. Taken together, his books suggest a writer interested in both entertainment and moral or literary improvement, which fits well with the tastes of many family and parlor readers of his era.

Reliable biographical details about his life appear to be limited, but surviving references connect him with Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and show that his work continued to circulate long after his early death.