author

Edward Edwards

1812–1886

A pioneering library historian and biographer, he helped shape the idea of the free public library in Britain. His books blend deep research with a clear sense of why libraries, archives, and public access to knowledge matter.

2 Audiobooks

Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 2 of 2 With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.

Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 2 of 2 With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.

by Edward Edwards

Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 1 of 2 With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.

Lives of the Founders of the British Museum, Part 1 of 2 With Notices of Its Chief Augmentors and Other Benefactors, 1570-1870.

by Edward Edwards

About the author

Born in London in 1812, Edward Edwards became a British librarian, library historian, and biographer whose work was closely tied to the early movement for free public libraries. He is widely remembered as an important figure in the development of public library service in the United Kingdom.

Alongside his library work, he wrote substantial historical and biographical studies. Confirmed works associated with him include Memoirs of Libraries, including a Handbook of Library Economy, Libraries and Founders of Libraries, Chapters of the Biographical History of the French Academy, and The Life of Sir Walter Ralegh.

He died in Niton on the Isle of Wight in 1886. Even now, he stands out as one of those nineteenth-century writers whose books were driven by a practical belief that learning should be preserved, organized, and opened to the public.