Bölsche was born in
Cologne on 2 January 1861, son of journalist Carl Bölsche (16 March 1813 – 14 April 1891) long-time editor of the
Kölnische Zeitung. As a secondary school student, Bölsche wrote essays on natural history for magazines such as "Die Gefiederte Welt" or "Isis". He studied from 1883 to 1885 philosophy, art history and
archaeology at the
University of Bonn. He did not complete studies of classical philology in
Bonn, but in their course he traveled to
Rome and
Florence, then to
Paris. Through Rudolf Lenz (1863–1938) and
Bruno Wille Bölsche came into contact with the literary association "Durch!". Although most of his work covers natural history topics, Bölsche was not a trained naturalist, but an enthusiastic popularizer of the natural sciences. He was a friend of the biologist
Ernst Haeckel and was an early conservationist. His publication of
Das Liebesleben in der Natur ("The Love Life in Nature") in 1898 was the key for creating modern fact books in Germany. Boelsche also initiated with Wilhelm Schwaner (1863–1944) a prequel of the first German
folk high school, the "Freie Hochschule Berlin" in 1902 and was an important instigator for the "Lebensreformbewegung" (
Humanistic naturalism – key note: "Back to Nature") in Germany. In 1890 he and Bruno Wille founded the "
Freie Volksbühne", which was intended as a workers' theater promoting the naturalist plays of the day. He also edited the most important cultural history review of the day, "Freie Bühne" (Free Stage) and popularized his free-thinking monism knowledge, based on the thoughts of
Charles Darwin and
Ernst Haeckel, in dozens of self-edited books and series released by
Kosmos-Verlag in
Stuttgart collaborating with the Berlin artist
Heinrich Harder. His friendship with the Hauptmann brothers,
Gerhart Hauptmann and Carl, brought Bölsche to
Schreiberhau in the
Giant Mountains, where he would spend the summer regularly, starting in 1901, making his permanent residence there in 1918. He continued to devote himself to his literary work and his extensive correspondence until old age. ==Personal life==