Fredson Thayer Bowers (April 25, 1905 – April 11, 1991) was an American

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and scholar of textual editing.

Life

Bowers was a graduate of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(Ph.D.). He taught at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

before moving to the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1938. Bowers served as a

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during World War II leading a group of codebreakers. In 1947 he led a group of faculty and interested local citizens in founding the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, of which he served as president for many years. He founded its annual publication, ''

Studies in Bibliography Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia is a learned society founded in 1947 at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville to promote interest in books and manuscripts, maps, printing, the graphic arts, and bibliography and textual c ...

'', which became a leading journal in the field. Bowers was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

in 1958. In 1969 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the

Bibliographical Society Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society dealing with the study of the book and its history in the United Kingdom. Largely owing to the efforts of Walter Arthur Copinger, who was supported by Richard Copley ...

(of London). He retired in 1975 and at the time of his death, he was Linden Kent Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Virginia. His second wife, novelist Nancy Hale, died before him in 1988. Bowers had three sons and a daughter with his first wife: Fredson Bowers, Jr., Stephen, Peter, and Joan.

Bibliography of books written and edited

* Dog owner's handbook, 1936 * Elizabethan revenge tragedy, 1587–1642, 1940 * Randolph, Thomas, 1605–1635, 1942 * Notes on standing type in Elizabethan printing, 1946 * Criteria for classifying hand-printed books as issues and variant states, 1947 * Certain basic problems in descriptive bibliography, 1948 * Principles of bibliographical description, 1949 * George Sandys; a bibliographical catalogue of printed editions in England to 1700, 1950 * English studies in honor of James Southall Wilson, 1951 * Dekker, Thomas, ca. 1572–1632. Dramatic works of Thomas Dekker, 1953 * On editing Shakespeare and the Elizabethan dramatists, 1955 * Whitman, Walt, 1819–1892. Whitman's manuscripts: Leaves of grass (1860) A parallel text, 1955 * Bibliographical way, 1959 * Textual & literary criticism, 1959 * Principles of bibliographical description, 1962 * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804–1864. Scarlet letter, 1963 * Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Merry wives of Windsor, 1963 * Bibliography and textual criticism, 1964 * Hamlet; an outline-guide to the play, 1965 * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804–1864. Blithedale romance and Fanshawe, 1965 * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804–1864. House of the seven gables, 1965 * Bibliography; papers read at a Clark Library seminar, May 7, 1966 * Beaumont, Francis, 1584–1616. Dramatic works in the Beaumont and Fletcher canon, 1966 * On editing Shakespeare, 1966 * William Shakespeare: Hamlet. Adapted by the staff of Barnes & Noble from an original work by Fredson Bowers, 1967 * Dryden, John, 1631–1700. John Dryden: four comedies, 1967 * Dryden, John, 1631–1700. John Dryden: four tragedies, 1967 * Two lectures on editing: Shakespeare and Hawthorne y Charlton Hinman and Fredson Bowers, 1969 * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804–1864. Our old home: a series of English sketches, 1970 * Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804–1864. Wonder book, and Tanglewood tales, 1972 * Crane, Stephen, 1871–1900. Red badge of courage : a facsimile edition, 1973 * Marlowe, Christopher, 1564–1593. Complete works of Christopher Marlowe, 1973 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. History of Tom Jones, a foundling, 1974 * Essays in bibliography, text, and editing, 1975 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. History of Tom Jones, a foundling, 1975 * James, William, 1842–1910. Meaning of truth, 1975 * James, William, 1842–1910. Essays in philosophy, 1978 * James, William, 1842–1910. Pragmatism, a new name for some old ways of thinking ; The meaning of truth, a sequel to Pragmatism, 1978 * James, William, 1842–1910. Some problems of philosophy, 1979 * James, William, 1842–1910. Will to believe and other essays in popular philosophy, 1979 * Introductions, notes, and commentaries to texts in The dramatic works of Thomas Dekker, 1980 * Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899–1977. Lectures on literature, 1980 * Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899–1977. Lectures on Russian literature, 1980 * James, William, 1842–1910. Principles of psychology, 1981 * Marlowe, Christopher, 1564–1593. Complete works of Christopher Marlowe, 1981 * James, William, 1842–1910. Essays in religion and morality, 1982 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. History of Tom Jones, a foundling, 1983 * Kroll, Leon, 1884–1974. Leon Kroll, a spoken memoir, 1983 * Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899–1977. Lectures on Don Quixote, 1983 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. Tom Jones, 1985 * Elizabethan dramatists, 1987 * Jacobean and Caroline dramatists, 1987 * Hamlet as minister and scourge and other studies in Shakespeare and Milton, 1989 * Principles of bibliographical description, 1994 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. History of Tom Jones, a foundling, 1994 * Fielding, Henry, 1707–1754. History of Tom Jones, a foundling, 2002 * Essays in bibliography, text, and editing, 2003

Notes

References and further reading

Encyclopedia Virginia
Fredson Bowers
Library of Congress
bibliography * * * Mirjam M. Foot, ''Bookbinders at Work: Their Roles and Methods'' (New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2006) (about the work of W. W. Greg and Fredson Bowers) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowers, Fredson 1905 births 1991 deaths American bibliographers Brown University alumni Harvard University alumni Writers from New Haven, Connecticut University of Virginia faculty Textual criticism Textual scholarship Bibliographers 20th-century American writers Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy