Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and

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 ''bibliograph ...

Early life

Pollard was the son of the historian

Albert Pollard Albert Frederick Pollard (16 December 1869 – 3 August 1948) was a British historian who specialised in the Tudor period. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906. Life and career Pollard was born in Ryde on the ...

and was born in

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, London on 7 March 1903. After studying at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

, Pollard studied history for one year at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

before winning a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

in 1921, obtaining a third-class degree in history in 1924. At Oxford he was part of the Hypocrites' Club. In that year he married

Kay Beauchamp Kathleen Mary 'Kay' Beauchamp (27 May 1899 – 25 January 1992) was a leading light in the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1920s. She helped found ''The Daily Worker'' (later '' The Morning Star'') and was a local councillor in Finsbury. ...

, pioneering Communist and women's rights campaigner. Their marriage was dissolved in 1972)

Career

Even whilst he was a student, he was well known as a book collector, and bought part of a booksellers' business (Birrell and Garnett) in London. He became managing director in 1927, with the company producing many noted catalogues in the 1920s and 1930s, some of which were to become standard works of reference. Pollard's knowledge of his subject was displayed in his contributions to '' The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'' and in his lectures and articles. With John Carter, he wrote ''An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets'' (1934), exposing the prominent book collector Thomas J. Wise as a fraud. In 1937, Harry Carter, Ellic Howe, Alfred F. Johnson, Stanley Morison and Graham Pollard started to produce a list of all known pre-1800 type specimens. The list was published in '' The Library'' in 1942. However, because of the war, many libraries at the European continent were not accessible anymore. In 1939, the bookshop partnership ended and Pollard became a special lecturer at University College, London before joining the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

in 1942; whilst this was supposedly a temporary appointment, he remained until retirement in 1959. He maintained his bibliographical interests, publishing an edition of ''The Earliest Directory of the Book Trade'' by John Pendred (1785), and lecturing in Cambridge shortly before his retirement. In 1960-1961 he held the Lyell Readership in Bibliography at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and lectured on "The Medieval Book Trade in Oxford." During his retirement, he was president from 1960 to 1962 of the London Bibliographical Society, which awarded him its gold medal in 1969. He also lectured in the United States in 1973, and received a volume of essays published in his honour by the Oxford Bibliographical Society in 1975. He died at the Radcliffe Infirmary on 15 November 1976. In 2018, it was alleged in Henry Hemming's ''M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster'' that Pollard spied on the Communist Party for Maxwell Knight and the British security services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Graham 1903 births 1976 deaths British bibliographers British booksellers Civil servants in the Board of Trade Alumni of University College London Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Oxford People from Putney Presidents of the Bibliographical Society