William Thomas Lowndes

Background

William Thomas Lowndes was born in London, England in 1798, the son of a London bookseller.

Career

In 1820 William Thomas Lowndes began to compile his chief and valuable work, ‘The Bibliographer's Manual, ’ the first edition of which, published in four volumes by Pickering, is dated January 1, 1834. Though the first systematic work of its kind in England, it brought Lowndes neither notice nor money. He passed the latter part of his life in drudgery and complete poverty, acting, in his last years, as cataloguer to Henry George Bohn, who re-edited his ‘Manual’ in four volumes, 1857–64. In 1839 he published parts i–v. of ‘The British Librarian, ’ designed to supplement the defective treatment of theology in the ‘Manual; ’ was delayed by illness and failing sight; the last issued, in which the subject of class I, ‘Religion and its History, ’ is still unfinished, was also delayed, not appearing till 1842. But his health was broken, and his mind deranged.

Achievements

• William Thomas Lowndes's most notable work is The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature.

Works

• book

  • The Bibliographers Manual of English Literature Es At Which They Have Been Sold

Connections

He was married and had two children.