Essays in Librarianship and BibliographyGarnett, Richard
Science
Essays in Librarianship and Bibliography
Garnett, Richard
Bibliography -- Methodology; British Museum; Library science
photography and photo-gravure. His admirable paper on the subject, read
in 1877, will be fresh in the memory of members of the Association, as
also the companion essay entitled "Who spoils our English Books?" read
at the Cambridge meeting, a characteristic example of his humorous
manner, not intended to be taken quite _au pied de la lettre_. His
letters from Europe to his father are, we trust, destined to see the
light. He was a frequent contributor to the _Athenæum_, especially on
the history of the English Bible and early discovery in America, and his
communications were always highly valued.
It is unnecessary to enter at length into Mr. Stevens's personal
character when addressing a public to most of whom he was personally
known. Perhaps his most distinguishing characteristic was his eminent
large-heartedness. He had room in his mind for every individual and
every interest. He was cheerful, genial, expansive, and preserved his
buoyancy of spirit under circumstances the most trying and vexatious. He
possessed great sweetness as well as great liberality of disposition;
his combativeness was devoid of every particle of rancour; shrewd and
crafty, he was yet open and candid. Intent, as he could not help being,
on his own advantage as a trader, the interests of his customer had a
very definite place in his mind. He worked for his patrons even more
than for himself, and prided himself more upon having made another man's
library than he would have done upon having made his own fortune. As a
man of business, his principal defect was an over-sanguine temper; the
spring, nevertheless, of his enterprise, and hence of his success. "Si
non errasset fecerat ille minus."
Mr. Stevens died of a general decay of constitution resulting in dropsy,
against which his vigorous constitution and indomitable cheerfulness
contended with great hope of success to the very last. He had been
married for upwards of thirty years to a highly accomplished lady, whose
daughter by a former marriage is the widow of Mr. Hawker, the celebrated
Vicar of Morwenstow. His son, Mr. H. N. Stevens, succeeds to the
direction of his business, and inherits his literary and bibliographical
tastes.
FOOTNOTES:
[325:1] _Library Chronicle_, vol. iii., 1885.
THE LATE SIR EDWARD A. BOND, K.C.B.[335:1]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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