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William Thomas Lowndes (1793-1843) was an English bibliographer. His principal work,The Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature--the first systematic work of its kind--was published in four volumes in 1834.

He was born in London Dec. 8, 1793, the son and grandson of well-known booksellers on Fleet Street and the Strand. His grandfather, Thomas Lowndes (1719-1784), publisher of Fanny Burney's first book, Evelina, was assumed to be the model for "Briggs" in her second novel, Cecilia.

In 1820 Lowndes began collecting material for Britain's first comprehensive English language bibliography. Drawing from libraries of local book collectors, the British Museum, the Bodleian Library and others, the project took fourteen years to complete. It was published by William Pickering in 1834. The four volumes contained some fifty thousand entries, including all fields of English literature from the invention of the printing press onward. Despite its merits, his Manual brought neither fame nor fortune to Lowndes, who did not live to see the ultimate success of his work.

Reduced to poverty, the bibliographer's final years were spent as cataloguer to Henry George Bohn, who later issued revised editions of his Manual. In 1839-42 Lowndes published the first parts of Lowndes's British Librarian, designed to supplement his early manual, but owning to failing health did not complete the work. On July 31, 1843 he died at the age of 49, leaving a widow and two children.

Today Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual of British Literature is recognized as a major landmark in British bibliography. Available in libraries around the world, the Manual continues to serve as a springboard to further research and a vital resource in the study of English literature.

References:


 * Encyclopedia Britnnica,(11th ed.) Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
 * London Metropolitan Archives, St. Luke, Chelsea Register of Baptisms 1778-1812, p.74/LUK.
 * Dictionary of National Biography1885-1900, Vol. 34, p.213.
 * Do You Know Your Lowndes?, bibliographical essay by George Watson Cole. Published postumously by the American Bibliographical Society, 1939