W. Harrison (William Harrison) Bayles

Born in 1841 and died in 1929, W. Harrison Bayles—also listed as William Harrison Bayles—is a little-known American author whose surviving reputation rests mainly on Old Taverns of New York, published in 1915. The book was issued by the Frank Allaben Genealogical Company and later preserved by Project Gutenberg, which has helped keep his work in circulation.

Bayles wrote as a storyteller-historian. In Old Taverns of New York, he traces the social and political life of New York through its taverns, coffeehouses, hotels, and meeting places, treating them not just as drinking spots but as centers of conversation, business, and public life. That focus gives the book a warm, anecdotal feel while still grounding it in historical detail.

Very little biographical information about Bayles appears to be widely available online beyond his full name, life dates, and his authorship of this book. He is recorded as having died on July 7, 1929, and being buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut.