author
Fitz Roy Carrington
1869–1954
An English-born editor and print expert, he moved easily between the worlds of literature and art history, bringing older poetry and graphic art to new readers. His work reflects a deep love of Renaissance and early modern culture, from engravings to devotional and pastoral verse.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Surbiton, Surrey, on November 6, 1869, he was educated at Victoria College in Jersey and moved to the United States in 1886. He built his career in the art world, especially through his long association with Frederick Keppel & Co. in New York, and became known as a leading authority on prints and engravings, particularly those of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Alongside that scholarly work, he also edited literary anthologies that kept older English verse in circulation for modern readers. Among the books associated with him are The Shepherd's Pipe, a gathering of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century pastoral poems, and The Pilgrim's Staff, a collection of divine and moral poems. His writing and editing show the same curatorial instinct that marked his work with prints: a talent for selecting, preserving, and presenting material from earlier centuries.
He later served in major museum roles, including work connected with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. He died on December 31, 1954, remembered not only as an art historian and curator but also as an editor who helped make older literature feel lively and accessible.