Joseph William Moss M.D. (1803–1862) was an English physician. He is known for his ''Manual of Classical Bibliography'' (1825).

Life

Born at

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

, then in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, Moss matriculated at

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

, 21 March 1820. While an undergraduate he was preoccupied with classical bibliography. He graduated B.A. 1825, M.A. 1827, M.B. 1829, and settled in practice at Dudley. Moss was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

on 18 February 1830. In 1847 he moved from Dudley to Longdon, near

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, and in 1848 to the Manor House, Upton Bishop, in

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

. In 1853 he again moved, to Hill Grove House, Wells, Somerset, where he died 23 May 1862. By the end of his life he was regarded as an eccentric recluse.

Works

Moss's ''Manual of Classical Bibliography'', was, he said, sent to the press early in 1823. The work was published in 1825, in two volumes, containing over 1250 closely printed pages. Publicity material made comparisons with works of Guillaume-François Debure, the ''Manuel'' of

Jacques Charles Brunet Jacques Charles Brunet (2 November 1780 – 14 November 1867) was a French bibliographer. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of a bookseller. He began his bibliographical career by the preparation of several auction catalogues, notable exa ...

and the ''Introduction to the Knowledge of the Editions of the Classics'' of

Thomas Frognall Dibdin Thomas Frognall Dibdin (177618 November 1847) was an English bibliographer, born in Calcutta to Thomas Dibdin, the sailor brother of the composer Charles Dibdin. Dibdin was orphaned at a young age. His father died in 1778 while returning to En ...

; and claimed improvements over those of

Edward Harwood Edward Harwood (1729–1794) was a prolific English classical scholar and biblical critic. Life Harwood was born at Darwen, Lancashire, in 1729. After attending a school at Darwen, he went in 1745 to the Blackburn grammar school under Thomas Hu ...

and

Michael Maittaire Michel Maittaire (also Michael) (1668 – 7 September 1747) was a French-born classical scholar and bibliographer in England, and a tutor to Lord Philip Stanhope. He edited an edition of Quintus Curtius Rufus, later owned by Thomas Jefferson. His ...

. In spite of omissions and mistakes, the '' Manual'' became a standard work of reference. Favourable reviews appeared, but the '' Literary Gazette'' (1825), in three articles, severely attacked the book. A reply from Moss was in the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine' ...

'' for September 1825: he admitted that he had borrowed the plan of his work from Dibdin. The ''Literary Magazine'' published a rejoinder. The ''Manual'' was reprinted, with a new title-page, but with no corrections, in 1837, by

Henry George Bohn Henry George Bohn (4 January 179622 August 1884) was a British publisher. He is principally remembered for the ''Bohn's Libraries'' which he inaugurated. These were begun in 1846, targeted the mass market, and comprised editions of standard works ...

. An inconsistent ''Supplement'', compiled by the publisher, brought the lists down to 1836.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Joseph William 1803 births 1862 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors English bibliographers Fellows of the Royal Society People from Dudley 19th-century English male writers People from Wells, Somerset