John Rutter Chorley (31 July 1806, Blackley Hurst,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

– 29 June 1867,

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 ...

) was an English author, bibliophile, and Hispanist (also interested in other

Romance studies Romance studies or Romance philology ( an, filolochía romanica; ca, filologia romànica; french: romanistique; eo, latinida filologio; it, filologia romanza; pt, filologia românica; ro, romanistică; es, filología románica) is an acade ...

). Born in Blackley Hurst near

Billinge, Merseyside Billinge is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. It forms the larger part of the civil parish of Billinge Chapel End. At the United Kingdom Census 2001, it had a population of 6,554. Within the boundaries ...

, John Rutter Chorley was the older brother of the author and critic

Henry Fothergill Chorley Henry Fothergill Chorley (15 December 1808 – 16 February 1872) was an English literary, art and music critic, writer and editor. He was also an author of novels, drama, poetry and lyrics. Chorley was a prolific and important music and litera ...

(1808–1872). In addition to his career in railway administration as corporate secretary to the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

between Liverpool and Birmingham, he worked as a private tutor. In 1845 a bequest from his uncle made him independently wealthy and he retired and moved to London. With help from

George Ticknor George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871) was an American academician and Hispanist, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature. He is known for his scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature. ...

, (1815–1872) and experts at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, Chorley became a significant collector as a bibliophile. Among his friends was

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

Selected works

* * * * * with Cayetano Alberto de la Barrera y Leirado: ''Catálogo bibliográfico y biográfico del teatro antiguo Español, desde sus origenes hasta mediados del siglo XVIII''. Madrid 1860 * ''Catálogo de comedias y autos de Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, compuesta en lengua castellana''. Corregido y adicionado por Cayetano Alberto de la Barrera. In: ''Comedias escogidas de Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpio'', 4, 1860, S. 535–558 und Madrid 1861 * ''The wife’s litany. A winter-night’s dream. Ballads and other pieces in verse''. London 1865

Sources

* ''Catalogue of the Select Library of the late John Rutter Chorley'' comprising works on English, French, German, Italian and Spanish Romance literature which will be sold on Wednesday, November 27, 1867 * Hugo Albert Rennert: ''Bibliography of the dramatic works of Lope de Vega Carpio based upon the catalogue of John Rutter Chorley''. New York / Paris 1915 * John Callan James Metford: ''An early Liverpool Hispanist: John Rutter Chorley''. In: ''Bulletin of Spanish Studies'', 25, 100, 1948, pp. 247–259

References

External links

Named Collections of Printed Materials (C), British Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chorley, John Rutter 1806 births 1867 deaths English literary critics English bibliophiles British Hispanists People from Billinge, Merseyside 19th-century English writers 19th-century British journalists English male journalists English male non-fiction writers 19th-century English male writers