Wilberforce Eames (October 12, 1855 – December 6, 1937) 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 librarian, known as the 'Dean of American bibliographers'.

Early life

Eames was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, his family moving there in 1861 upon the death of their other son. His formal schooling ended before Eames entered high school. He worked for the ''East New York Sentinel'' from 1870, the experience leading him to set up a small scale press in his home. Subsequently Eames worked as a postal clerk in Brooklyn, until he was hired by bookseller Edward R. Gillespie, who employed Eames from 1873 to 1879. He was subsequently employed by N. Tibbals & Sons,

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

and Charles L. Woodward until 1885. After that, he worked as a personal assistant for George Henry Moore, head of Lenox Library.

Library work

After Moore's death in 1892, Eames became an assistant librarian, and eventually a full librarian at Lenox, and later, upon the merging of the Tilden trust, Astor and Lenox libraries he was appointed 'Lenox Librarian.' He became Chief of the American History Division at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

in 1911, and Bibliographer (a position he held until his death) there in 1916. In 1924, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called Eames: "The greatest living scholar of books in America."

A. S. W. Rosenbach Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach (July 22, 1876 – July 1, 1952) was an American collector, scholar, and seller of rare books and manuscripts. In London, where he frequently attended the auctions at Sotheby's, he was known as "The Terror of the Aucti ...

said of Eames: "Probably the greatest student of books in the whole history of scholarship and book collecting lives quietly in New York, worshiped by every collector and scholar and unknown to the world in general- Wilberforce Eames." Eames contributed to many bibliographies, including Joseph Sabin's ''Dictionary of Books relating to America''. He also amassed a private book collection, counting 20,000 books in 1904, many of which were later bequeathed to and incorporated into the NYPL. A self-taught scholar, Eames was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1893.

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 higher le ...

awarded him an honorary degree in 1896, as did the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

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 ...

(both in 1924). In 1929, he received the gold medal of the

Bibliographical Society of London 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 ...

, and honors of the New York Historical Society in 1931. He was awarded Honorary Membership in the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

in 1933.American Library Association, Honorary Membership. http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/176/all_years

References

External links

Biography
* *Wilberforce Eames Collection: Nineteenth-century religious tracts in various languages (i.e., Tamal and Bulgarian), (103 items). From th
Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eames, Wilberforce 1855 births 1937 deaths American bibliographers American librarians Members of the American Antiquarian Society Writers from Newark, New Jersey