William Livingston Klein (1851-1931) was born in Barry, Illinois, and died in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He married Nora C. (Sprague) Klein in Fabius, New York, in 1875, and they subsequently moved to Woodstock, Illinois. Around that time, Klein started W. L. Klein & Co., a publishing company specializing in educational works. In the early 1880s, the Kleins moved to Minneapolis where Klein continued running his publishing company and also became the editor of several publications, including Journal-Lancet of the Minnesota State Medical Association, Northwestern Builder and Decorator, and Street Railway and Electrical News Monthly. It was in his capacity as editor of Northwestern Architect and Improvement Record that Klein first wrote to Mary Baker Eddy in 1886, asking to receive a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures for the purposes of advertising it in his publication and of writing an article on Christian Science. His wife, Nora, was a close friend of Camilla A. Hanna who later became a student of Mary Baker Eddy's, and it was Hanna who initially referred the Kleins to Eddy. Klein expressed interest in having his wife go through a class with Eddy at the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, but there is no record of her doing so. Based on the records available, we have found no further information concerning the Kleins' involvement with Christian Science. Klein is best known for writing Why We Punctuate; or, Reason Versus Rule in the Use of Marks, originally published in 1896. It is still in print and in active circulation in modern times and is noted for its historic importance and continuing relevance.

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