Pliny Miles

Pliny Miles was a 19th-century American author and traveler whose surviving work shows an unusually wide range of interests. He published American Mnemotechny; or, the Art of Memory in 1848, an early guide to memory techniques, and later wrote Norðurfari; or, Rambles in Iceland (1854), the book he is most often remembered for.

His Iceland travel narrative stands out for its firsthand look at the country’s landscapes, customs, and daily life at a time when very few American readers would have known much about it. The book mixes observation, history, and personal experience in a way that still feels lively and curious.

Miles also wrote about public policy, including Postal Reform: Its Urgent Necessity and Practicability (1855), which suggests he was interested not only in travel and culture but in practical reform as well. The record that survives online is limited, but it presents him as a restless, engaged writer who moved easily between education, travel, and civic questions.