James H. Head

James H. Head was a 19th-century American writer and designer associated with Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He is known for Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants, a practical and imaginative guide to staging tableaux vivants—carefully arranged “living pictures” for home and public performance. Contemporary and later sources also connect him with decorative and procession designs, suggesting a wider artistic life than his surviving book alone might imply.

Home Pastimes was published in 1860, and evidence from later coverage indicates that it went through multiple editions in the 1860s. The book combines instruction with showmanship, offering readers detailed ideas for costumes, scenery, poses, and lighting. That mix of practical advice and theatrical charm helps explain why the book still draws interest from readers curious about Victorian amusements and popular performance.

Reliable details about Head’s personal life are limited, but a Portsmouth newspaper obituary cited in later reporting says he died in December 1869 at age 38. That early death may help explain why so little biographical information survives today compared with the vivid, hands-on energy of his work.