Alexander Grosart

Background

The son of a building contractor, he was born at Stirling and educated at the University of Edinburgh.

Career

He is chiefly remembered for reprinting much rare Elizabethan literature, a work which he undertook because of his interest in Puritan theology. In 1865 he went to Liverpool, and three years later to Blackburn. He resigned from the ministry in 1892, and died at Dublin.

Editions of Michael Bruce"s Poems (1865) and Richard Gilpin"s Demonologia sacra (1867) followed.

In 1868 he brought out a bibliography of the writings of Richard Baxter, and from that year until 1876 he was occupied in reproducing for private subscribers the “Fuller Worthies Library,” a series of thirty-nine volumes which included the works of Thomas Fuller, Sir John Davies, Fulke Greville, Edward de Vere, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, John Donne and Sir Philip Sidney. The last four volumes of the series were devoted to the works of many little known and otherwise inaccessible authors.

He also wrote a biography of the Scottish poet, Robert Fergusson (Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1898) in the “Famous Scots Series”. His Occasional Issues of Unique and Very Rare Books (1875–1881) included among other things the Annalia Dubrensia of Robert Dover.

In 1876 still another series, known as the “Chertsey Worthies Library,” was begun.

lieutenant included editions of the works of Nicholas Breton, Francis Quarles, Doctor Joseph Beaumont, Abraham Cowley, Henry More and John Davies of Hereford. The two last-named series were being produced simultaneously until 1881, and no sooner had they been completed than Grosart began the “Huth Library,” so called from the bibliophile Henry Huth, who possessed the originals of many of the reprints. lieutenant included the works of Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, Gabriel Harvey, and the prose tracts of Thomas Dekker.

He also edited the complete works of Edmund Spenser and Samuel Daniel.

From the Townley Hall collection he reprinted several manuscripts and edited Sir John Eliot"s works, Sir Richard Boyle"s Lismore Papers, and various publications for the Chetham Society, the Camden Society and the Roxburghe Club. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica noted “Grosart"s faults of style and occasional inaccuracy,” but claimed that they “do not seriously detract from the value of his work.”.

Achievements

• Dr Grosart was chiefly remembered for his exertions in reprinting much rare Elizabethan literature, a work which he undertook in the first instance from his strong interest in Puritan theology.
  
  He was also unwearied in searching for rare books, and he brought to light much interesting literature, formerly almost inaccessible.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The complete works in verse and prose of Abraham Cowley; now for the first time collected and edited: with memorial introduction and notes and illustrations, portraits, etc.

    (The complete works in verse and prose of Abraham Cowley; ...)

  • The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol. 4 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, Vol. 4 ...)

  • The complete works of Richard Sibbes (VOLUME 1)

    (The complete works of Richard Sibbes. Volume 1. 580 Pages.)

  • The complete works of Richard Sibbes (VOLUME 2)

    (The complete works of Richard Sibbes. Volume 2. 552 Pages.)

  • The complete works of Thomas Brooks (VOLUME 1)

    (The complete works of Thomas Brooks. Volume 1. 564 Pages.)

  • The Complete Poems of C. Harvey

    (The Complete Poems of C. Harvey is an unchanged, high-qua...)

  • The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume I
  • Complete Poems of Giles Fletcher, B.D.
  • The Complete Works of Richard Crashaw, Volume II