Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, Edward (1812-1886)
EDWARDS, EDWARD (1812–1886), librarian, was born in 1812, probably in London. Of his education and early employments we have no account, but in 1836 he appears as a pamphleteer on subjects of public interest, and his productions evince considerable information as well as mental activity and intelligence. He wrote on national universities, with especial reference to the university of London, whose charter was then under discussion; on the British Museum, at the time undergoing thorough investigation from Mr. Hawes's committee; and, at a somewhat later date, on the reform of the Royal Academy. His attention was probably directed to the latter subject by the work he undertook in 1837, in connection with the patentees of the Collas system of engraving, on the great seals of England, and on the medals struck under the French Empire. His account of the latter extends from 1804 to 1810, but was never completed. He also about this time assisted Mr. W. Macarthur in his account of New South Wales, though his name did not appear in connection with the work. Meanwhile his pamphlet on the museum and the evidence he had given before the museum committee had attracted the attention of the authorities, and in 1839 he became a supernumerary assistant in the printed book department, for especial employment on the new catalogue ordered by the trustees. Edwards was one of the four coadjutors of Panizzi in framing the ninety-one rules for the formation of this catalogue, the others being John Winter Jones, afterwards principal librarian; Thomas Watts, afterwards keeper of printed books; and Serjeant Parry, then, like Edwards, a supernumerary assistant. On the commencement of the catalogue Edwards was assigned to the duty of cataloguing the collection of civil war tracts, formed under Charles I and the Commonwealth by the bookseller Thomason, and containing more than thirty thousand separate pieces. These were entirely catalogued by him, and his titles are generally very good and full, sometimes perhaps almost superfluously minute. The task seems to have absorbed his energies for several years, or any other literary work which he may have produced was anonymous. About 1846 he began to devote great attention to the statistics of libraries, collected returns supplied by foreign librarians or excerpted by himself from foreign publications, and published the results in the 'Athenæum.' Unfortunately these statistics were frequently fallacious, and Mr. Watts, in a series of letters published in the 'Athenæum' under the signature 'Verificator,' easily showed that Edwards's assertions and conclusions were little to be relied on. They had served, however, to make him a popular authority, and he was able to render very valuable service to William Ewart [q. v.], whose committee on free libraries in 1850 originated free library legislation in this country. It was natural that Edwards should be offered the librarianship of the first important free library established under Mr. Ewart's act, which he was the more disposed to accept as his engagement at the museum had from various causes ceased to be satisfactory to himself or the authorities. He accordingly became in 1850 the first librarian of the Manchester Free Library (opened 1852), and applied himself with much energy to the management and development of the institution. His project for a classified catalogue was published in 1855 in the form of a letter to Sir John Potter, chairman of the library committee. The relations of the librarian of a free library and his committee frequently require tact and forbearance on both sides, and this was certainly wanting on the part of Edwards, whose temper was naturally impatient of control, and who admits in the pamphlet already mentioned that he had been taxed both with indifference to economy and with an undue regard to his own reputation. His position grew more and more uneasy, and in 1858 he was compelled to resign. The rest of his life was voted to the literary labours which will chiefly contribute to preserve his name. In 1859 appeared his 'Memoirs of Libraries,' a work of great value, containing a general history of libraries from the earliest ages, continued and supplemented by his 'Libraries and their Founders,' 1806. By his 'Lives of the Founders of the British Museum' (1870) he made himself the historian of the national library, and although his work must be supplemented and may possibly be superseded by others, it is likely to remain the groundwork of every future history. It is in general accurate as well as painstaking, and evinces an impartiality creditable to the writer when the circumstances of his retirement from the museum are considered. Previous to the appearance of this important work he had written the article 'Libraries' in the 'Encyclopædia Britannica,' published (1869) a small book on 'Free Town Libraries;' written his 'Chapters on the Biographical History of the French Academy' (1864); edited the 'Liber Monasterii de Hyda' for the Rolls Series; and produced (1865) his biography of Sir Walter Raleigh. The second volume is particularly valuable, containing for the first time a complete edition of Raleigh's correspondence; the memoir also has considerable merit, but it appeared almost simultaneously with St. John's; and it was remarked with surprise that each biography appeared to be deficient in whatever gave interest to the other, and that the two would need to be blended to produce a really satisfactory work. After the publication of his history of the museum, Edwards accepted an engagement to catalogue the library of Queen's College, Oxford, which occupied him for several years. On the formation of the Library Association in 1877 he was proposed as its first president, but the deafness from which he was by this time suffering would alone have been an insuperable obstacle to his discharge of the office. After the completion of his Oxford engagement he retired to Niton in the Isle of Wight, and occupied himself with projects for a recast of his 'Memoirs of libraries,' with great alterations and improvements. A prospectus of the intended work was issued by Trübner & Co. Edwards negotiated for the appearance of a portion of it in the 'Library Chronicle,' and was understood to have collected considerable material for it, but it does not seem to be known whether this still exists. His last published book was a 'Handbook to Lists of Collective Biography,' undertaken in conjunction with Mr. C. Hole, the first and only part of which appeared in 1885. He also wrote the greater part of the article 'Newspapers' in the ninth edition of the 'Encyclopædia Britannica.' He died at Niton, 10 Feb. 1886. Notwithstanding serious faults and frequent failures, Edwards's name will always be associated with the history of librarianship in England. His services in connection with the free library movement were very valuable; and he did much to awaken attention to the defects of English libraries and librarianship. As a literary historian he was erudite and industrious, though not sufficiently discriminating. His works occupy a place of their own, and will always remain valuable mines of information. His opinions on library matters, whether expressed in his evidence before the museums committee or in his own writings, are almost always sensible and sound. They exhibit few traces of that vehemence of temperament and that incapacity for harmonious co-operation with others which were at the root of most of his failures, and placed him in a false position for so great a part of his life.
[Autobiographical passages in Edwards's writings; Memoirs in Academy and Library Chronicle; Reports of British Museum committees, 1835 and 1849; personal knowledge.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.113
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 117 | i | 16 | Edwards, Edward (1812-1886): after exists. insert In 1883 he completed a calendar of the Carte Historical Papers in the Bodleian Library, which is still in MS. |