Richard Hinckley Allen (1838, Buffalo, New York – 1908, Northampton, Massachusetts) was a gifted polymath and amateur naturalist; his wide range of interests caused his friends to nickname him "the walking encyclopedia."
His youthful ambition to pursue astronomy was thwarted by poor eyesight, and he became a moderately successful businessman instead.
[1] First published in 1899 as Star-Names and Their Meanings,[2] this work collected the origins of the names of stars and constellations from a panoply of sources, some primary but most secondary; also telling briefly the various myths and folklore connected with stars in the Greco-Roman tradition; as well as in the Arabic, Babylonian, Indian and Chinese traditions, for which, however, some modern criticism having taken it to task, claiming it to be largely superseded.
[3] It was criticized by Paul Kunitzsch[4] and Gary D. Thompson for using obsolete sources, and thereby being unreliable on star names and their derivation.
[6] There is no direct modern equivalent, although Ian Ridpath deals with traditional Greek and Roman constellation mythology,[7] while Short Guide to Modern Star Names by Paul Kunitzsch and Tim Smart (Otto Harrassowitz, 1986)[8] is an authoritative source on the origin of star names.