The New International Encyclopædia/Spofford, Ainsworth Rand

SPOF'FORD, Ainsworth Rand (1825—). An American librarian, born at Gilmanton, N. H. He was privately educated, became a bookseller, then associate editor of the Cincinnati Daily Commercial (1859), and in 1861 assistant librarian of Congress. From 1864 to 1899 he was librarian in chief of the Congressional Library, and became widely known for exceptional knowledge of books. He wrote much for periodicals on literature, economics, and history, and edited with others a Library of Choice Literature (10 vols., 1881-88), a Library of Wit and Humor (5 vols., 1884), and a Practical Manual of Parliamentary Rules (1884). He published annually The American Almanack and Treasury of Facts, Statistical, Financial, and Political (1878-91), and A Book for All Readers (1900), on the collection and preservation of books and the founding of libraries.