author
George Somes Layard
1857–1925
A barrister by training and a literary sleuth by instinct, he became known for lively books on art, letters, and literary history. His work often brought together the pleasures of scholarship, collecting, and storytelling.
2 Audiobooks
Kate Greenaway
by M. H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann, George Somes Layard
About the author
Born in Clifton, Bristol, in 1857, George Somes Layard was educated at Monkton Combe, Harrow, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1881, but he is better remembered as a journalist, bibliophile, and man of letters.
Layard wrote on a wide range of literary and artistic subjects, with a particular taste for uncovering curious histories hidden in books, prints, and correspondence. Among his best-known works are Tennyson and his Pre-Raphaelite Illustrators, Mrs. Lynn Linton, and Sir Thomas Lawrence's Letter-Bag. He also contributed to major reference works including the Dictionary of National Biography.
That mix of legal training, collector's enthusiasm, and love of old documents gave his writing a distinctive character: informed, alert to detail, and drawn to the byways of Victorian culture. He died in London in 1925.