Arthur Henry Bullen, often known as A. H. Bullen, (9 February 1857, London – 29 February 1920, Stratford-on-Avon) was an English editor and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, a specialist in 16th and 17th century literature, and founder of the Shakespeare Head Press, which for its first decades was a publisher of fine editions in the tradition of the Kelmscott Press. His father George Bullen (d. 1894) was a librarian at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

. A. H. Bullen's interest in

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

dramatists and poets started at the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , special ...

, before he went to Worcester College, Oxford to study classics. His publishing career began with a scholarly edition of the ''Works of John Day'' in 1881 and continued with series of ''The English Dramatists'' (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885–88) and a four-volume set of ''A Collection of Old English Plays'' (London: Privately printed by Wyman & Sons, 1882–89),A. H. Bullen, ed.
A Collection of Old English Plays (Volume I)
upenn.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2021, some of which he had discovered in manuscript and published for the first time. He was also the first person to publish some early

lyric poems Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

. Bullen wrote more than 150 articles for the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', lectured on Elizabethan dramatists at Oxford University and taught at

Toynbee Hall Toynbee Hall is a charitable institution that works to address the causes and impacts of poverty in the East End of London and elsewhere. Established in 1884, it is based in Commercial Street, Spitalfields, and was the first university-affiliat ...

. In 1891 he and H. W. Lawrence went into partnership as the publishers Lawrence & Bullen. This lasted until 1900 when Bullen moved on to publish as A. H. Bullen. With

Frank Sidgwick Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

as partner, he then formed the Shakespeare Head Press and published a collected Shakespeare and collected Yeats from their base in Stratford-on-Avon. Bullen was admired by literary figures like Swinburne and was well known in his time for his enthusiastic scholarship and for rediscovering forgotten works of literature, most notably those of Thomas Campion. Because he modernised as he published, his texts are not used as standard editions by scholars today. After Bullen's death the press was continued by a partnership including

Basil Blackwell Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (29 May 18899 April 1984) was born in Oxford, England. He was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell (18491924), founder of Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, which went on to become the Blackwell family's publishing and book ...

, the Oxford bookseller. It continues today as an imprint of

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, now printing on normal commercial presses.

Sources

*Richard Storer's article on Bullen in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' (2004) *H. F. B. Brett-Smith's article on Bullen in the ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (1927)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bullen, Arthur Henry Publishers (people) from London British academics of English literature Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford People educated at the City of London School 1857 births 1920 deaths