Albert Ehrman
Albert Ehrman (1890-1969) was a merchant and collector of rare books and manuscripts. He is known for creating the Broxbourne Library, which reflected his interests in early European printing, bookbinding, type specimen books, and the distribution of books by catalogue.[1]
Background
Albert Ehrman was born in 1890 in England. His father had emigrated from Germany in the mid-nineteenth century and founded a merchant firm specialising in the supply of industrial diamonds. Albert was educated at Charterhouse and joined his father's firm in 1906. He married Rina (née Bendit) Ehrman in April 1919 before moving to Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. They had one son, John Patrick William Ehrman (1920-2011), and the family later moved to London.[2]
His interest in book collecting and printing began in Eastbourne where he came across a bookshop which contained a folio published in Venice in 1472. Drawn to the beauty of the typography, he purchased it and subsequently developed a love for rare books and an enthusiasm for learning about printing.[2] This led to an extensive collection of incunabula and other rare books, accrued over a period of fifty years from 1919 to 1969.[3] The collection is now known as the Broxbourne Collection, named by Ehrman after his home in Hertfordshire.
Ehrman died in 1969.
Collection
The Broxbourne Collection was presented to Cambridge University Library and the Bodleian Library in Oxford by John Ehrman in 1978 through the Friends of National Libraries in memory of his father. The collection at Cambridge University Library contains around 650 books of type specimens, works of reference, and books of typological interest dating from the 15th to 20th centuries. These books reflect Albert's interests in typography and the evolution of typeface. It includes some French 18th-century specimens, around thirty early English specimens, a Vatican specimen of 1628, and an example of Janson face from around 1690. The collection also represents Sanskrit and other 'exotic typefaces'. Sixteen incunabula have recently been added to the catalogue.[4]
Around 4,000 further items were presented to the Bodleian library, which includes over 100 MSS, and of the printed books, 140 are incunabula, 644 were printed in the 16th century and 422 in the 17th century.[5] The Bodleian’s collection is divided into three sections:
a) c. 2,000 examples of bindings from the 12th-20th centuries, and from many countries. There is an especially strong group of blind-stamped 16th century specimens, and examples of the work of some of the finest contemporary British and French binders.
b) The remarkable collection of book sale catalogues and material for book trade history used for, and listed in, G. Pollard and A. Ehrman, The distribution of books by Catalogue to 1800, 347 items are there described, and there are c. 50 additions. They include the catalogues of printers, publishers, booksellers, auctioneers, and libraries. Most of the countries of Europe are represented, and a wide range of book trade practices are illustrated.
c) A binding and printing history reference collection.
All of the above contain indexes of provenances and of types of bindings by country and by binder.[5] Furthermore, some of the collection has recently been digitised by Bodleian Rare Books at the Weston Library.[1]
References
- ↑ Suarez, Michael F.; Woudhuysen, H. R., eds. (2010-01-01). "The Oxford Companion to the Book". doi:10.1093/acref/9780198606536.001.0001. ISBN 9780198606536.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Baugh, Daniel (14 April 2016). "Ehrman, John Patrick William 1920-2011" (PDF). www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk. Bibliographical Memoirs of Fellows, Memoirs of Fellows XIII. Retrieved 8 December 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ PHILIP, I. G. (1971). "The Broxbourne Library". The Library. s5-XXVI (1): 64. doi:10.1093/library/s5-xxvi.1.64. ISSN 0024-2160.
- ↑ Paul, Suzanne (2018-07-13). "Broxbourne Collection". www.lib.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Rare Books Named Collection Descriptions". Bodleian Libraries. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
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