Thomas Bulfinch

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1796, Thomas Bulfinch was educated at Harvard and spent much of his working life in business and banking rather than academia. That practical background may help explain the plain, readable style that made his books so widely popular.

Bulfinch is remembered above all for the mythological works later gathered as Bulfinch's Mythology. The collection brings together The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne, books that retell classical myths and medieval legends for general readers in an easy, engaging way.

He died in Boston in 1867, but his retellings remained in print and continued to shape how many English-speaking readers first encountered myth. More than a specialist, he was a gifted guide who opened the door to old stories and made them feel lively and approachable.