A Transcript of the Registers of the Stationers' Company
The Term Catalogues, 1668-1709/11.[2]
Spouse
Married in 1869
Children
Two children including E. A. N. Arber
Edward Arber (4 December 1836 – 23 November 1912[1]) was an English scholar, writer, and editor.
Background and professional work
Arber was born in London. From 1854 he 1878 he worked as a clerk in the Admiralty, and began evening classes at King's College London in 1858. In 1870 his address was No. 5 Queen Square, in Bloomsbury.[2]
As a scholarly editor, Arber made notable contributions to English literature. His name is associated particularly with the English Reprints series (1868–1871), by which an accurate text of the works of many English authors, formerly only accessible in more expensive editions, was placed within reach of the general public. Among the thirty volumes of the series were Stephen Gosson's School of Abuse, Roger Ascham's Toxophilus, Tottel's Miscellany, and Robert Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia. It was followed by the "English Scholar's Library" (16 volumes) which included the Works (1884) of Captain John Smith, governor of Virginia, and the Poems (1882) of Richard Barnfield.[3]
Anthologies and bibliographies
In his eight volume English Garner (1877–1890) Arber collected rare old tracts and poems, "ingatherings from our history and literature". Between 1899 and 1901 he issued the ten volume British Anthologies set:
During and after the first World War, T.S. Eliot used to recommend The Shakespeare Anthology for students of his University Extension classes on Elizabethan Literature in London.[5] In 1907 Arber began a series called A Christian Library. He was the sole editor of two vast English bibliographies: A Transcript of the Registers of the Stationers' Company, 1553–1640 (1875–1894), and The Term Catalogues, 1668–1709/11.[3][6]
^Clare Bucknell. The Treasuries: Poetry Anthologies and the Making of British Culture (2023), p. 7
^The Term Catalogues, 1668–1709, With a Number for Easter Term, 1711 A.D. A Contemporary Bibliography of English Literature in the Reigns of Charles II, James II, William and Mary, and Anne, ed. Edward Arber, vols 1–3. London: Edward Arber, 1903/ 1905/ 1906.