Thomas Bulfinch

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1796, Thomas Bulfinch became known as an American writer and editor with a gift for explaining old stories in an inviting way. He was educated at Harvard and spent much of his life in Boston, where he worked in business and banking as well as in literary pursuits.

Bulfinch is remembered above all for his mythology books, including The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne. After his death in 1867, these works were brought together in the volume now widely known as Bulfinch’s Mythology, which helped generations of readers discover Greek, Roman, and medieval legends without needing a specialist’s background.

What keeps his work alive is its straightforward, friendly style. Rather than treating mythology as something remote or academic, he presented it as a set of memorable stories connected to art, literature, and everyday culture.