Edward Maunde Thompson

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Edward Maunde Thompson 1899

Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (born May 4, 1840 in Clarendon (Jamaica) , † September 14, 1929 in London ) was an English librarian and paleographer . He worked at the library of the British Museum and was chief librarian and director of the British Museum from 1888 to 1909 .

Thompson's parents were from Clarendon, Jamaica . He attended rugby school and studied at Oxford University . In 1861 he became assistant to Anthony Panizzi , the chief librarian of the British Museum, and in 1862 he moved to the manuscript department. From 1863 he also studied law at the Middle Temple in London and was admitted to the bar in 1867, but never practiced. In 1866 he became the closest collaborator of Edward Augustus Bond , the head of the manuscript department, in 1871 he was appointed deputy head (Assistant Keeper). In 1878 he followed Bond as head of the manuscript department (Keeper) and in 1888 as chief librarian (Principal Libarian). In 1898 he became director and principal librarian head of the entire British Museum.

A leading paleographer in England, Thompson published an Introduction to Greek and Latin Paleography and wrote many of the related articles for the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica .

He is also known for his paleographic investigation of the play Sir Thomas More (1916), in which he came to the conclusion that the manuscript D is that of William Shakespeare (the only theatrical manuscript in Shakespeare's handwriting). He did this in the anthology published in 1923 on the piece. He published facsimiles from the British Museum's manuscript collection, such as the Codex Alexandrinus (1879/80).

With Edward Augustus Bond he founded the Palaeographical Society in 1873 . In 1902 he was a founding member of the British Academy , of which he was president from 1907 to 1909.

He was Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Bath (GCB) and in 1895 he was knighted. He has received honorary doctorates from Oxford, Durham, St. Andrews and Manchester and an honorary fellow of University College Oxford. In 1864 he married Georgiana Susanna McKenzie, who also came from Jamaica and with whom he had a daughter and three sons.

Fonts

  • English illuminated manuscripts. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1895
  • An Introduction to Greek and Latin Palaeography. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912 ( digitized ).
  • Facsimiles of Ancient Manuscripts. London: Oxford University Press, 1913-30.
  • Shakespeare's handwriting. A study. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916.
  • Handbook of Greek and Latin palaeography. London: Kegan Paul 1906
  • Chronicon Adae de Usk, AD 1377-1404. London 1876
  • A catalog of the Library of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury. London 1880
  • A guide to the autograph letters, manuscripts, original charters, and royal, baronial, and ecclesiastical seals exhibited in the Department of manuscripts and in the King's library. London 1887

literature

personal data
SURNAME Thompson, Edward Maunde
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British librarian and paleographer
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Clarendon (Jamaica)
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1929
Place of death London