Joseph Burney Trapp

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 ...

FBA FSA (16 July 1925 – 14 July 2005) was the director of the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...

and Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

from 1976 to 1990.

Life

Trapp was born in

Carterton, New Zealand Carterton ( mi, Taratahi) is a small town in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and the seat of the Carterton District (a territorial authority or local government district). It lies in a farming area of the Wairarapa in New Zealand's North Isl ...

, on 16 July 1925, and was educated at Dannevirke School. He graduated MA from

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

in 1947, and began his career as an academic at that institution in 1950, after a spell working at the

Alexander Turnbull Library The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

from 1946 to 1950. In 1951 he emigrated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, where he worked first at

Reading University The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

and from 1953 at the

. At the Warburg he was assistant librarian (1953-1966) and librarian (1966-1976), before succeeding

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kin ...

as director (1976-1990). Trapp married Elayne Falla, a fellow Victoria University alumni, in 1953 in England. He died in London on 14 July 2005, survived by Elayne, their two sons and five grandchildren.

Works

Trapp's first publication was a history of

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

in Victoria. His most enduring work is his

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of ''The Apology of Sir Thomas More'', published in 1979 as part of the Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More. He also published a volume of ''Essays in the Renaissance and Classical Tradition'' (1990) and ''Studies of Petrarch and His Influence'' (2003). With

Lotte Hellinga Lotte Hellinga, FBA (née Querido, born 1932) is a book historian and expert in early printing. She is an authority on the work of William Caxton. Early life Lotte Hellinga was born in 1932. She studied at the University of Amsterdam under Wyt ...

he was co-editor of ''The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, 1400-1557'' (1999). His work on

John Colet John Colet (January 1467 – 16 September 1519) was an English Catholic priest and educational pioneer. John Colet was an English scholar, Renaissance humanist, theologian, member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, and Dean of St Paul's Cat ...

and other English

humanists Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanis ...

, and his study of

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

, were published in the ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' over many years. *1990: Gray lectures at Cambridge *1991: Panizzi lectures at the British Library, ''Erasmus, Colet, and More'' *1994: Lyell Reader at Oxford

Awards and honours

Trapp became a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 1978 and a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

in 1980. In 1990, on his retirement from the Directorship of the Warburg Institute he was presented with a ''Festschrift'' in his honour.

Edward Chaney Edward Chaney (born 1951) is a British cultural historian. He is Professor Emeritus at Solent University and Honorary Professor at University College London (School of European Languages, Culture and Society (SELCS) – Centre for Early Modern ...

and Peter Mack eds, ''England and the Continental Renaissance Essays in Honour of J.B. Trapp'' (Boydell Press, 1990) In the same year he was appointed a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapp, Joseph 1925 births 2005 deaths Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the British Academy Commanders of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand librarians Victoria University of Wellington faculty Directors of the Warburg Institute Academics of the Warburg Institute Literary historians People from Carterton, New Zealand New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century New Zealand writers 20th-century English historians English antiquarians

Life

Works

Awards and honours

Further reading

References