Taylor was born on 24 March 1849 in Hobart Town, son of Thomas Joseph Taylor and his wife Emma. In New Norfolk as a child Alfred suffered an accident which crippled him for life. He received little formal education but enthusiasm for books won him a post as librarian at New Norfolk in his teens. In January 1874 he became librarian of the Tasmanian Public Library which had been constituted in 1870. The appointment caused some stir, but he held it until his death.;;Science, especially medical science, was Taylor's other great interest. He claimed to have cured himself of consumption by inhaling sulphur fumes and to have anticipated the germ theory of disease. He wrote of Tasmanian fauna, flora and Aboriginals, and built up an impressive museum at his home, 28 D'Arcy Street. The Tasmanian School Journal, which he edited and largely wrote in 1901-03, presented these interests in their most attractive light. He early visited, publicized and invested in silver-mining on the west coast, only to lose heavily in the Van Diemen's Land Bank smash in 1891.;;On 31 December 1874 at Hobart Taylor married Mary Anne Forde (d.1920); their only child was stillborn in 1875. Taylor travelled overseas in 1905 and suffered ill health from 1919. He died of heart disease on 9 October 1921.