author
Peter Berlyn
d. 1885
Best known for lively 1851 books about the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace, this Victorian writer helped explain one of the century’s most famous spectacles to a broad reading public.
1 Audiobook
The Crystal Palace : its architectural history and constructive marvels
by Peter Berlyn, Jr. Charles Fowler
About the author
Born in 1819 and dying in 1885, he was a British author remembered for writing accessible books tied to the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Crystal Palace. Sources connected with his author records also identify him as secretary of the Manchester Athenæum, placing him in the middle of the cultural and educational world that fed Victorian public life.
His best-known works include The Crystal Palace: Its Architectural History and Constructive Marvels, written with Charles Fowler Jr., as well as A Popular Narrative of the Origin, History, Progress, & Prospects of the Great Industrial Exhibition and The Curiosities and Wonders contained within The Crystal Palace. Together, these books suggest a writer interested in making major public events, architecture, and industrial progress understandable and engaging for everyday readers.
A confirmed modern portrait was not readily available from the sources I checked, which is not unusual for a lesser-known 19th-century writer.