Robert George Collier Proctor (13 May 1868 – 6 September 1903), often published as R. G. C. Proctor, was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 ...

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, ...

book collector Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is '' bibliophilia'', and some ...

, and expert on

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

and early

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), and ...

Early life and education

Proctor was born in

Budleigh Salterton Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in East Devon, England, south-east of Exeter. It lies within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and forms much of the electoral ward of Budleigh, whose ward population at t ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

on 13 May 1868, to Robert Proctor and Anne Tate, and was a distant relative of

John Payne Collier John Payne Collier (11 January 1789, London – 17 September 1883, Maidenhead) was an English Shakespearean critic and forger. Reporter and solicitor His father, John Dyer Collier (1762–1825), was a successful journalist, and his connection wi ...

. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

from

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th ...

, in 1890. While at Oxford, where he was known for his book collection, Proctor's interest in

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

studies,

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, and bibliography grew and he compiled a catalogue of incunabula and early printed books in the library collection at Corpus Christi College. Proctor continued his studies of early printing at Oxford, cataloging incunabula at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

, New College and

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Professional life

Proctor joined 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 ...

on 16 October 1893 as an assistant in the Department of Printed Books. He quickly became an expert on early typography and began describing every known European type fount used before 1520. Proctor rearranged all of the incunabula in the British Museum geographically by place of printing in what is known today as "Proctor order" and he compiled ''An Index to the Early Printed Books in the British Museum: From the Invention of Printing to the Year 1500'' which was issued in four parts from 1898 to 1903. Proctor developed a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are list of type ...

based on type found in the

Complutensian Polyglot Bible The Complutensian Polyglot Bible is the name given to the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. The edition was initiated and financed by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436–1517) and published by Complutense University in Alca ...

. Working with

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

at the

Kelmscott Press The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published fifty-three books in sixty-six volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many ...

, Proctor grew interested in

Icelandic literature Icelandic literature refers to literature written in Iceland or by Icelandic people. It is best known for the sagas written in medieval times, starting in the 13th century. As Icelandic and Old Norse are almost the same, and because Icelandic wor ...

and published translations of the

Vápnfirðinga saga Vápnfirðinga saga or Vopnfirðinga saga (), named after Vopnafjörður, Iceland, is one of the sagas of Icelanders. It tells the story of Helgi Þorgilsson, a relative of Erik the Red, his murder and subsequent retaliation. The saga provides a w ...

and the Laxdæla saga in 1902 and 1903, respectively.

Death

In August 1903 Proctor began a solo walking tour in the

Austrian Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...

. He left

Pitztal The Pitztal is an alpine valley located in Tyrol, Austria. The Pitztal is a southern side valley of the Upper Inntal, and runs between the valleys Ötztal (to the east) and Kaunertal (to the west). The Pitze river runs the length of the valley an ...

on 5 September without a guide and was never heard from again. In December 1903 a judge granted an order presuming Proctor's death on 6 September of that year. His friend, Sydney Cockerell, speculated that Proctor may have committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

Legacy

After Proctor's death a memorial fund was established and used to collect and publish (in 1905) his ''Bibliographical Essays''. The fund also provided for the compilation and publication of the three remaining parts of Proctor's index of early printed books covering the years 1501 to 1520. Even today, some large collections of incunabula are arranged in "Proctor order" ("This means that the books are arranged and described in order of country of origin, then of town, then of printer, in chronological order").

Bibliography

Selected writings of Robert Proctor: * * * * * * *

Early life and education

Professional life

Death

Legacy

Bibliography

See also

References

Further reading