Henry Cuyler Bunner

Henry Cuyler Bunner wrote poetry and fiction while working as an influential humorist and magazine editor closely tied to New York literary life. He joined Puck in the late 1870s and later became its editor, shaping the illustrated weekly while publishing fiction and verse of his own. The Poems of H. C. Bunner gathers work that had appeared across his career, including familiar pieces such as “The Way to Arcady.” Charles Scribner Sons issued the collected volume after his death, and later editions credited Brander Matthews with editorial responsibility. Bunner also wrote the urban story collection Short Sixes and the novels The Midge and The Story of a New York House. His writing often observes city manners, domestic feeling, and ordinary conversation with compact wit rather than grand rhetoric. That combination of editorial experience and careful observation made him a recognizable voice in late Victorian American periodical culture. The poetry collection preserves the quieter lyrical side of a writer also known for comic prose and his exacting work at Puck.