Colin Ellis Franklin, FSA (8 October 1923 – 17 May 2020) was an English writer,

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

, book-collector and antiquarian

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

Early life

Franklin was born in Notting Hill, London, into an affluent and influential British Jewish family. He was the son of Muriel Frances Waley (1894–1976) and

Ellis Arthur Franklin Ellis Arthur Franklin (28 March 1894 – 16 January 1964) was an English merchant banker. Early life Franklin was born in Kensington, London into an affluent Anglo-Jewish family. He was the son of Arthur Ellis Franklin, a merchant banker an ...

(1894–1964), a London merchant banker. His sister was the posthumously-renowned biophysicist

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer. Her work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, coal ...

. The uncle of Franklin's father was The 1st Viscount Samuel, who was

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

in 1916 and the first practising Jew to serve in a British Cabinet; he was also the first High Commissioner (the Governor of a territory that is not a Colony) for the British Mandate of Palestine. Franklin's aunt, Helen Caroline Franklin, married

Norman Bentwich Norman de Mattos Bentwich (28 February 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a British barrister and legal academic. He was the British-appointed attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine and a lifelong Zionist. Biography Early life Norman Bentwich was the ...

, later the Attorney-General of the British Mandate of Palestine; she was active in trade union organisation and women's suffrage, then a member of the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

and was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1965.

Career

As a pupil at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

, Colin developed an interest in

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

and the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti ...

.Franklin, Colin. "How it began" in ''A modest collection''. Pinner:

Private Libraries Association The Private Libraries Association (PLA) is an international society of book collectors with 450 individual members and over 100 institutional members. The majority of members are based in Britain, but there are also members in the United States, C ...

, 2007, pp. 205–207. After Oundle, he studied at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

, and worked for some years in publishing (at

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

in London) before moving into antiquarian bookselling. He specialised in the study of

private presses Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, gra ...

and the book-arts, but also wrote on Shakespeare, Japanese books and prints,

Lord Chesterfield Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (22 September 169424 March 1773) was a British statesman, diplomat, man of letters, and an acclaimed wit of his time. Early life He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfi ...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

and on printing techniques and media. He was Honorary President of the

Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles The Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles is a book collecting and bibliophile club run by students at the University of Oxford. It was originally founded in 1950 by a group of young bibliophiles, with the first meetings being held in Hilary ...

, Patron to the Oundle School Society of Bibliophiles, President of the

and the

Double Crown Club The Double Crown Club is a dining club and society of printers, publishers, book designers and illustrators in London that was founded in 1924. Among its early members was the typographer Stanley Morison. According to Sir Sydney Roberts, writing in ...

. On 19 April 2019, he was appointed to the rank of ''Chevalier'' in the ''

Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

'' by the President of France in recognition of his service on HMS ''Kimberley'' in August 1944, when he was a junior officer taking part in

Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil), known as Débarquement de Provence in French ("Provence Landing"), was the code name for the landing operation of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15Augu ...

, the Allied invasion of Southern France.

Select bibliography

*Franklin, Colin. ''Out of Order'' oems 1956–2012 Culham: Privately printed, 2015. *Franklin, Colin. ''Letters to a Granddaughter on Books and Book Collecting''. Moreton-in-Marsh: Strawberry Press for the author, 2012 .e. 2013 Illustrated by

Phillida Gili Phillida Gili is a British children's book illustrator. One of her best-known works is a 1992 pop-up version of ''The Nutcracker''. Biography Phillida Gili is the daughter of Reynolds Stone and Janet Woods. He was a wood engraver, engraver, de ...

. *Franklin, Colin. ''Obsessions and Confessions of a Book Life''. New Castle: Oak Knoll; Victoria: Book of Kells; London: Quaritch, 2012. *Franklin, Colin. ''Exploring Japanese Books and Scrolls''. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1999; London: British Library, 2005. *Franklin, Colin. ''Bookselling - A Memoir from 1980 by Colin Franklin.'' Carrollton, Ohio: Press on Scroll Road, 1999. *Franklin, Colin. ''Book Collecting as One of the Fine Arts''. Aldershot: Scolar, 1995. *Franklin, Colin. ''Lord Chesterfield: His Character and Characters''. Aldershot: Scolar, 1993. *Franklin, Colin. ''The Gehenna Press: The Work of Fifty Years, 1942–1992: The Catalogue of an Exhibition Curated by Lisa Unger Baskin''. With a bibliography by Hosea Baskin and notes by Leonard Baskin. allas Bridwell Library and Gehenna Press, 1992. *Franklin, Colin. ''Gogmagog: Maurice Cox and the Gogmagog Press''. With David Chambers and Alan Tucker. Pinner:

, 1991. *Franklin, Colin. ''The Private Presses''. Second edition, Aldershot: Scolar, 1991. (Originally published London: Studio Vista, 1969). *Franklin, Colin. ''Shakespeare Domesticated: The Eighteenth-century Editions''. Aldershot: Scolar, 1991. *Franklin, Colin. ''Elizabeth Barrett Browning at the Mercy of her Publishers''. aco Armstrong Browning Library, 1989. *Franklin, Colin. ''Poets of the

Daniel Press The Daniel Press was a private press in England, run by Charles Henry Olive Daniel (1836–1919), his wife Emily and later even their daughters, firstly at Frome and afterwards in Oxford. Henry Daniel began printing in 1845, when still a schoolbo ...

''. Cambridge:

Rampant Lions Press The Rampant Lions Press was a fine letterpress printing firm in Britain, operating from 1924 to 2008. The firm was founded by Will Carter (24 September 1912 – 17 March 2001), publishing its first book in 1936, and was continued by his son, Seba ...

, 1988. *Franklin, Colin. ''The Ashendene Press''. Dallas: Bridwell Library, 1986. *Franklin, Colin. ''Printing and the Mind of

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

''. Cambridge: Rampant Lions Press, 1986. *Franklin, Colin (editor). '' Gordon Craig's Paris Diary, 1872–1966''. North Hills:

Bird and Bull Press Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...

, 1982. *Franklin, Colin. ''Fond of Printing: Gordon Craig as Typographer and Illustrator''. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1980. *Franklin, Colin. ''Themes in

Aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

''. San Francisco: Book Club of California, 1978. *Franklin, Colin. ''

Emery Walker Sir Emery Walker FSA (2 April 1851 – 22 July 1933) was an English engraver, photographer and printer. Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Gu ...

: Some Light on his Theories of Printing and on his Relations with William Morris and Cobden-Sanderson''. Cambridge: University Printing House, 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Colin 1923 births 2020 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Oxford English bibliographers English book and manuscript collectors English booksellers Jewish English writers

Colin Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), Thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

People educated at Oundle School British recipients of the Legion of Honour Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Royal Navy officers of World War II Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People associated with the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles People from Notting Hill