author
Walter H. (Walter Herbert) Rich
b. 1866
A Maine naturalist and artist who turned close observation of birds, fish, and coastal life into vivid books and illustrations. His writing blends field knowledge with a working naturalist’s feel for the New England outdoors.
1 Audiobook
Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine
by Walter H. (Walter Herbert) Rich
About the author
Born in Portland, Maine, in 1866, Walter Herbert Rich built a life around careful looking. He graduated from Portland High School in 1885 and later worked for 23 years with the Fisheries Service. He also became curator of the Portland Society of Natural History’s museum, linking his scientific interests with public education.
Rich was known not only as a writer but also as an artist, especially for his watercolor and oil paintings of bird and marine life. The Zillman Art Museum describes him as largely self-taught, and his work shows the same close attention to nature that shaped his books.
As an author, he is best remembered for works such as Feathered Game of the Northeast and Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine. Those books reflect the range of his interests: from the habits of birds to the fisheries and coastal waters of New England. He died in 1948, remembered in Maine as a respected writer, artist, and naturalist.