| Description | The collection comprises correspondence, invoices, receipts, and press cuttings relating to Edward Arber's publications; items relating to his education and career including a school diary, lecture notes, and job applications; items relating to Arber's travels, personal expenses, and social engagements; newscuttings relating to Arber's death; and a small number of photographs of Arber and his family. In addition there are letters of condolence written to Arber's wife, Marion Arber, and son, E. A. Newell Arber, and correspondence dealing with the administration of his affairs after his death. The collection also contains a volume of material which appears to have been gathered together for a biography of Edward Arber, and family Bibles containing notes on family history. |
| Administrative History | Edward Arber (1836-1912) was appointed the first Professor of English at Mason Science College (a predecessor of the University of Birmingham) in 1881. Arber had attended schools in London and Paris and worked as a clerk in the Admiralty from 1854 to 1878. From 1858 he attended evening classes at King's College, London, where he became an associate in 1863 and honorary Fellow in 1880. From the 1860s Arber edited and published works of English literature. His edited collections include the English Reprints series, An English Garner, The Scholars Library, and The British Anthologies. He was working on a new series, the Christian Library, at the time of his death. He also transcribed and edited the registers of the Company of Stationers and the Term Catalogues. He was awarded a DLitt by the University of Oxford in 1905. He married Marion (nee Murray) in 1869 and they had two sons, Thomas Henry Arber and Edward Alexander Newell Arber (1870-1918, palaeobotanist). Edward Arber died after being knocked down by a taxi in London in November 1912.
Reference: Deposit information; Who Was Who |