Henri Auguste Omont (15 September 1857 – 9 December 1940) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

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 ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

, and historian.

Life

In 1881 he wrote a thesis ''De la ponctuation'' and graduated from the École Nationale des Chartes. As a librarian at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, he participated in compiling the "general catalogue of the manuscripts of the public libraries of France" (

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Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

Louviers Louviers () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in north-western France. Louviers is from Paris and from Rouen. Population History Prehistory In the area around Louviers, cut stones from the Paleolithic era have been fou ...

). At the same time, he undertook research on ancient libraries and the history of printing and books. Omont became a member of the

Société des Antiquaires de France The Société des Antiquaires de France (Society of Antiquaries of France) is a Parisian historical and archaeological society, founded in 1804 under the name of the Académie celtique (Celtic Academy). It is now based at the Louvre, in the pavil ...

and of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1900. Between 1900 and 1921, Omont was president of the Société libre d'agriculture, sciences, arts et belles-lettres de l'Eure. He received the honorary degree Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in October 1902, in connection with the tercentenary of 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 sec ...

. After his death, his private library stayed with his widow until it was bought in 1948 by the Catholic University of Leuven, to help reconstruct its collections after they were destroyed by the Germans for the second time. In 1970, Omont's library was divided when the university separated into a Dutch-speaking university that remained in Leuven, and a French-speaking one that moved to a new university town called Louvain-la-Neuve.

Selected works

References

Bibliography

*''Bibliographie des travaux de M. Henri Omont''. Paris: H. Didier ; Toulouse: Ed. Privat, 1933, XI-270 p. 1108 entries. "Pour le cinquantième anniversaire de l'entrée à la Bibliothèque nationale de m. Henri Omont, la bibliographie de ses travaux a été dressée par les conservateurs-adjoints et les bibliothécaires du Département des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale." Edited by P. Lauer and E. A. van Moé. * Chris Coppens a.o.(eds), Sapientia aedicavit sibi domum: Leuven University Library 1425–2000, Leuven 2005, p. 351

Sources

*''Livret de l'École des Chartes 1821-1966'' * Catalogue général de la BnF * 19
contributions
à la ''

Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes The ''Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes'' is a journal dedicated to the study and use of medieval manuscripts. It was founded in 1839 and continues to provide bi-annual issues with articles and abstracts in French, English, and German. Star ...

''. * 26
ouvrages
at the ''Système universitaire de documentation''.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omont, Henri 1857 births 1940 deaths 20th-century French historians French librarians Philologists Members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres École Nationale des Chartes alumni French male writers Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy 19th-century French historians