Edward P. Vining (died 1920) was an American writer and railroad executive.[1] He was the author of An Inglorious Columbus (1885), in which he argued that Hui Shen was originally from Afghanistan, traveled to China and Mexico, and created Mexican culture and religion.[2] [3] He also wrote The Mystery of Hamlet. An Attempt to Solve an Old Problem (1881), in which he argued that Shakespeare's Hamlet was actually a woman.[4] His work on Hamlet was translated into German and published in Leipzig in 1883.
When The Mystery of Hamlet was first published, Vining was working as a general freight traffic manager at the Union Pacific Railroad. His other works included a translation of The Necessity for a Classification for Freight.
Although Vining did not graduate from college, he received an honorary A.M. from Yale in 1886, and an LL.D. from William Jewell College in 1908.