Botta, Anne Charlotte

Botta, Anne Charlotte (b. Lynch) (1815–91) writer, salon hostess; born in Bennington, Vt. A writing teacher in the 1840s, she established a New York City salon in her home where writers (including Edgar Allan Poe), editors, actors, politicians, and other prominent people would gather. She continued this salon after her 1855 marriage to the Italian scholar, Vincenzo Botta, and then after his death (when even Andrew Carnegie would show up on an evening). With her own reputation as a minor poet, she wrote A Handbook of Universal Literature (1860).