author
Falconer Madan
1851–1935
A longtime Oxford librarian and bibliographer, he helped shape how scholars navigated the Bodleian Library and its manuscripts. His work combined deep learning with a practical gift for organizing knowledge.
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About the author
Born in Cam, Gloucestershire, on April 15, 1851, Falconer Madan studied at Marlborough College and Brasenose College, Oxford. After a period as a fellow of Brasenose, he joined the Bodleian Library, where he served for many years before becoming Bodley's Librarian from 1912 to 1919.
Madan is remembered as an important bibliographer, librarian, and scholar of manuscripts. He worked to catalogue and systematize the Bodleian's collections, and he played a major role in the early volumes of A Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. He also wrote on the history of the library and the book trade, making specialized subjects more usable for other researchers.
He died on May 22, 1935. Today, he stands out as one of the figures who helped turn the Bodleian into a more accessible and better organized resource for generations of readers and scholars.