Thomas Bulfinch

Author Code: ATBF

Educated at Boston Latin School, Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College, Bulfinch taught briefly at Boston Latin School before embarking on a career in business. By 1837, he had taken a position as clerk at the Merchant Bank of Boston and held that post for the remainder of his life. During the 1840's he was secretary to the Boston Society of Natural History. While working on a prayer book for King's Chapel in Boston, Bulfinch devised a plan whereby the Psalms could be made more readable and accessible to the ordinary reader. In 1853, he published Hebrew Lyrical History, in which the psalms are arranged as they corresponded to events in Jewish history. This was followed in 1855 by the Age of Fables; or, Stories of Gods & Heroes, which was so successful that it became the de facto standard work in the study of mythology. In 1858, he published the Age of Chivalry and the Legends of Charlemagne followed in 1863. These three works were combined into a single work, Bulfinch's Mythology, in 1881. Other works by Bulfinch include Boy Inventor: a Memoir of Matthew Edwards (1860), Poetry of the Age of Fables (1863) and Oregon and Eldorado (1866).