author
John Purver Richardson
b. 1833
Best known for a wide-ranging anthology of quotations, this little-known compiler gathered thousands of extracts from ancient and modern writers into a single reference work. His surviving public profile is sparse, but the book itself suggests a patient reader with a taste for moral reflection and literary variety.
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About the author
John Purver Richardson is credited as the author of Life and Literature: Over two thousand extracts from ancient and modern writers, and classified in alphabetical order. Public catalog records for that work identify him as "John Purver Richardson" and commonly note a birth year of 1833.
The book is a large compilation rather than a conventional single-author narrative: it brings together passages from many writers and arranges them by subject. Its preface describes the selections as gathered over many years of research, which fits the picture of Richardson as a careful editor and collector of memorable writing.
Beyond that volume, reliable biographical information appears to be very limited in the sources I could confirm. I was not able to verify fuller details such as his birthplace, education, or a confirmed portrait, so it is safest to remember him primarily through the enduring reference work attached to his name.