Bertram Dobell

Bertram Dobell (9 January 1842 – 14 December 1914) was an English bookseller and literary scholar. Largely self-educated, he became a prominent figure in the London literary scene, known for publishing and promoting the works of overlooked and neglected writers. Dobell edited and reissued texts by poets such as James Thomson and Thomas Traherne, and contributed his own poetry and literary criticism to the period's cultural life.

Bertram Dobell
Portrait from In Memoriam. Bertram Dobell. 1842-1914 (1915)
Born	(1842-01-09)9 January 1842 Battle, East Sussex, England
Died	14 December 1914(1914-12-14) (aged 72) Haverstock Hill, London, England
Occupations	Bookseller literary scholar
Spouse	Eleanor Wymer ​ ​ (m. 1869; died 1910)​
Children	5
Signature

Biography

Early life and family

Bertram Dobell was born on 9 January 1842 in Battle, East Sussex, the son of Edward Dobell, a tailor, and his wife Elizabeth.^[1] He received little formal education and entered the workforce at an early age.^[2]

On 24 July 1869, he married Eleanor Wymer (1847–1910). The couple had five children.^[3]

Career in bookselling

In 1872, Dobell opened a newsagent's shop.^[2] He later established two second-hand bookshops on Charing Cross Road, London, both of which earned a strong reputation among book collectors.^[3]

Dobell became known not only as a bookseller but also as a contributor to the literary culture surrounding book collecting. Arthur Quiller-Couch praised him for continuing "the good tradition which knits writers, printers, vendors, and purchasers of books together."^[4] He further noted that Dobell was "at pains to make his second-hand catalogues better reading than half the new books printed, and they cost us nothing."^[4]

Literary connections

Dobell developed friendships with several contemporary writers, most notably the poet James Thomson. He played an important role in preserving Thomson's literary legacy by editing and publishing his poems in book form.^[3]

Death

Dobell died of liver cancer on 14 December 1914 at his home in Haverstock Hill, London. He was 72 years old.^[3]

Works

"Rosemary and Pansies", handwritten note by Dobell, 1904

As an author, Dobell was best known for his editions of the works of Thomas Traherne (whose unpublished manuscripts he had discovered), Shelley, Goldsmith, Strode and James Thomson.^[3]

At first, Dobell issued his books through other publishers, but after some collaborative ventures, he began publishing under his own imprint, beginning with a "cheaper and more popular" edition of Thomson's The City of Dreadful Night in 1899.^[5]

This was followed by a privately published collection of his own verse, Rosemary and Pansies (1901), which, after favorable reception, he reissued in expanded form in 1904. This received some praise for its satires and epigrams,^[6] and contained, as well, a dozen haikai, one of the first English experiments with the then recently imported Japanese poetic form afterward known as haiku.^[7]

Dobell's other books included A Century of Sonnets (1910), and the biographies Sidelights on Charles Lamb (1903) and The Laureate of Pessimism: A Sketch of the Life of James Thomson (1910).^[3]