For the American Civil War general killed at Pickett's Charge, see Richard B. Garnett

Richard Garnett (1835 - 1906) was a biographer and writer on literature, and a published poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an assistant keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum.

Born at Lichfield, and educated at a school in Bloomsbury, London, he entered the British Museum in 1851 as an assistant librarian. There he remained for nearly 50 years, and rose to be Keeper of Printed Books. He acquired a wide knowledge of books and literature.

He made numerous translations from the Greek, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and wrote books of graceful verse, The Twilight of the Gods and other Tales (1888), various biographical works on Carlyle, Milton, Blake, and others, The Age of Dryden , a History of Italian Literature , and contributed many articles to encyclopaedias, and to the Dictionary of National Biography.

Edward Garnett was his son.