Henry Guppy

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(31 December 1861 – 4 August 1948) was

Librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

of the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriquet ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

from 1899 until his death in 1948. Guppy was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and educated at

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , speciali ...

. Before moving to the John Rylands he was Sub-Librarian of

Sion College Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West. The clergy who benefit by the foundation ...

. When appointed librarian in 1899 it was jointly with

Edward Gordon Duff Edward Gordon Duff (16 February 1863 – 28 September 1924), known as Gordon Duff, was a British bibliographer and librarian known for his works on early English printing. Career Duff was born in Liverpool on 16 February 1863. He was educated a ...

; he became sole Librarian from October 1900. He was created

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in 1937. He was active in the Library Association of Great Britain and among his notable achievements are contributions to the reconstruction of the university library of Louvain between the World Wars and the founding of the ''

Bulletin of the John Rylands Library The ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'' is a journal published by Manchester University Press. Articles are meant to enhance the "scholarship and understanding" of the collections of the John Rylands Library. The journal was established in ...

'' in 1903. During much of his tenure in Manchester he resided at

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

, where he died. He was survived by his wife Matilda, with whom he had two daughters, Lilian and Alberta.

Selected works

Interior of the Famous Library at Louvain destroyed during World War I

*''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library'', 1903–08, 1914-48 (editor and contributor) *''The John Rylands Library, Manchester: 1899-1935'' (a revised edition of the work first published in 1924) *''A Classified Catalogue of the Works on Architecture and the Allied Arts in the Principal Libraries of Manchester and Salford'' (editor, with Guthrie Vine). 1909

References

* Obituary in: ''Bulletin of the John Rylands Library''. Vol. 31, pp. 173–79 * Oxford DNB * ''Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library'', Volume 25 (1941): "In Honour of Henry Guppy", edited by H. B. Charlton (contents include bibliography of Dr Guppy's writings; memoir of him by Charlton)

External links

* 1861 births 1948 deaths People from Buxton People educated at the City of London School Librarians from London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Academic journal editors John Rylands Research Institute and Library {{library-bio-stub