Obituary. 367 late (Beorge HBullen, G.B., 3L3L5). WE greatly regret to announce the death, on October 10, of George Bullen, C.B., LL.D., a Vice-President of the Library Association, and late keeper of printed books in the British Museum. Considering his ad- vanced age, Mr. Bullen had been in remarkably good health until within a few weeks of his death, and the rapid termination of his illness was a severe shock to his family and friends. Mr. Bullen, it is stated, was born at Clonakilty in the county of Cork, November 17, 1816. His family must have settled in England not long after his birth, for he received, as we have been informed, a portion of his education at Chigwell Grammar School, and was afterwards one of the masters of St. Olave's School, Southwark. In January, 1838, he was appointed a supernumerary assistant in the library of the British Museum, and was at first employed in the removal of the books from Montague House to their places in the new building. This duty completed, Mr. Bullen was transferred to the Catalogue, and pre- pared for its first and only printed volume, published in 1841, the article Aristotle, with the exception of " Academies," the longest and most important contained in it. So long as he continued an assistant, Mr. Bullen was principally employed, first upon the pre- paration, and afterwards upon the revision of titles written for the catalogue. He was placed upon the permanent staff in 1849, and when, in 1866, Mr. Thomas Watts became Keeper of Printed Books, Mr. Bullen succeeded him as Assistant Keeper, and as Superintendent of the Reading Room. In 1875 ne was promoted to the Keepership of Printed Books, vacant by the retirement of Mr. W. B. Rye. He filled this post for nearly fifteen years, retiring in January, 1890, after fifty-two years' service. Many changes and improvements of great moment took place during Mr. Bullen's term of office ; the one with which his name will be chiefly associated is the publication of the Catalogue of Early English books, which he edited with a preface in 1884. Many important sales took place during his time, affording opportunities for valuable acquisitions. The most remarkable purchase of any was, perhaps, the great Chinese Cyclopaedia in upwards of five thousand parts, compiled at the beginning of the eighteenth century, now exhibited in the King's Library. Mr. Bullen was a member of the Library Association from its founda- tion, and a frequent speaker at its meetings, nearly all of which he attended up to 1888 inclusive. He was also greatly interested in the Caxton Celebration, and took an active part upon its committee. He was an extensive contributor to the literary press ; his principal biblio- graphical works were his Catalogue of the Library of the Bible Society, and his edition, with facsimile reprint, of the British Museum's unique copy of the ' Sex quam Elegantissimae Epistolas," printed by Caxton in 1483, a diplomatic correspondence between Pope Sixtus IV. and the Venetians. This he published after his retirement from the Museum. He was .the father of Mr Arthur H. Bullen, of Laurence and Bullen, so well known as the editor of Marlowe and other early dramatists, and the retriever of so many exquisite lyrics of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods from oblivion. Mr. Bullen's affability and cordiality rendered him in general very popular with his staff, and on his retirement he was presented with testi- monials, both by the assistants and the attendants in the Library. Shortly afterwards the distinction of C.B. was conferred upon him. He had received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow in the preceding year. 27
