Edmund Gardner

Background

Gardner was born in Kensington in 1869, the fifth of six children of John Gardner, a member of the stock exchange, and his wife Amy Vernon Garratt.

Education

He attended Beaumont College in Windsor before starting a science degree at University College London. He eventually graduated with a Bachelor, having been granted an aegrotat in Participant I of the Natural Sciences Tripos.

Career

At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was regarded as one of the foremost British Dante scholars. He transferred to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1887, with the intention of reading medicine. His studies were interrupted in 1890 due to health problems that were to persist throughout his life.

During his convalescence in Florence, he received his only formal training in Italian from a Florentine bookseller.

Gardner decided to engage in literary studies instead of following a medical career. In 1893 he was teaching English literature at the Cambridge Extension School and had his first article on Dante published in Nature.

He proceeded to contribute to a series of popular travel guides on cities in Italy published by J.M. Dent, while producing a steady scholarly output on Dante, Ariosto and their period. His academic contributions were recognized with his appointment as Barlow lecturer on Dante at University College London between 1910 and 1926.

He was promoted to reader in 1918.

The following year he became the first holder of the Serena Professorship in Italian Studies at the University of Manchester. From 1923 to 1925 he was Professor of Early Italian Language and Literature at the University of London, becoming Professor of Italian there from 1925 until his retirement in 1934. A fund was set up in early 1935 to mark his retirement, its main purpose being to finance the Edmund G. Gardner Memorial Prize in Italian Studies, to be awarded every five years by a committee from University College London.

Gardner died in 1935 as a result of complications during an operation at Middlesex Hospital, London.

Achievements

• In 1922 he won the Serena Medal of the British Academy, established in 1920. He was appointed an officer of Order of the Crown of Italy in 1921, a commendatore in 1929, and a grand officer in 1935.

Works

• book

  • Saint Catherine of Siena a Study in the Religion, Literature, and History of the Fourteenth, Century in Italy (Classic Reprint)

    (In this book I have not attempted to write the convention...)

  • King of the Court Poets: A Study of the Work, Life and Times of Lodovico Ariosto

    (Not only the finest biography of the author of the "Orlan...)

  • The Story of Siena and San Gimignano

    (THIS present volume is intended to provide a popular hist...)

  • The king of court poets; a study of the work, life and time of Lodovico Ariosto

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The king of court poets : a study of the work, life and time of Lodovico Ariosto

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Cell of Self-Knowledge: Seven Early English Mystical Treatises

    (FROM the end of the thirteenth to the beginning of the fi...)

  • The Cell of Self-Knowledge: - Scholar's Choice Edition

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • Saint Catherine of Siena: A Study in the Religion, Literature, and History of yhe Fourteenth Century in Italy

    (Hardcover reprint of the original 1907 edition - beautifu...)

  • Saint Catherine Of Siena - Study In The Religion, Literature And History Of The Fourteenth Century In Italy

    (Saint Catherine Of Siena - Study In The Religion, Literat...)

  • The Story Of Florence

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Dukes And Poets In Ferrara: A Study In The Poetry, Religion And Politics Of The Fifteenth And Early Sixteenth Centuries

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Saint Catherine Of Siena: A Study In The Religion, Literature And History Of The Fourteenth Century In Italy

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The story of Siena and San Gimignano, (The MediÃ|val town series)

    (Note: the book for sale is HARDCOVER Printed by Dutton 19...)

  • Dukes & Poets in Ferrara; A Study in the Poetry, Religion and Politics of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries

    (This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)

  • Dukes & Poets in Ferrara: A Study in the Poetry, Religion and Politics of the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The Story of Siena and San Gimignano - Primary Source Edition

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Saint Catherine of Siena: A Study in the Religion, Literature, and History of the Fourteenth Century in Italy - Primary Source Edition

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The story of Siena and San Gimignano

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • The King of Court Poets: A Study of the Work, Life and Times of Lodovico Ariosto

    (This Is A New Release Of The Original 1906 Edition.)

  • THE KING OF COURT POETS
  • The story of Siena and San Gimignano (The Medieval town series)
  • Dante, (The Temple primers)

Membership

In 1925 he became a member of the British Academy.

• Clubs: Royal Societies, New Reform.