Horace Elisha Scudder (1838 – 1902) was a prolific American man of letters and editor. He was born into a Boston family; his brothers were David Coit Scudder and Samuel Hubbard Scudder. He graduated from Williams College in 1858, taught school in New York City, and subsequently, returned to Boston and devoted himself to literary work. He is now best known for his children's books and the editorship he held of The Atlantic Monthly. He published the Bodley Books (1875-87) and was also an essayist, and produced large quantities of journalism that was printed anonymously. He was a correspondent of Hans Christian Andersen and biographer of James Russell Lowell. He edited also The Riverside Magazine. Scudder also prepared, with Mrs Taylor, the Life and Letters of Bayard Taylor (1884) and was series editor for the extensive American Commonwealths Series" for Houghton Mifflin.