Frederic Sutherland Ferguson (26 December 1878 in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 4 May 1967 in

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

) was an English

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 ...

. He was educated at the Grocers' Company's School, Hackney Downs, and at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, but did not take a degree. Ferguson joined the firm of

Bernard Quaritch Bernard Alexander Christian Quaritch ( ; April 23, 1819 – December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. The company established by Bernard Quaritch in 1847 lives on in London as Bernard Quaritch Ltd, dealing in rare ...

in 1897. He contributed to Pollard and Redgrave's ''A short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640'' (the STC), and was joint editor of a later edition of the STC. He also compiled ''Title-page borders used in England & Scotland 1435-1640'' (with R. B. McKerrow), 1932; and ''A bibliography of the works of Sir George MacKenzie, lord advocate, founder of the Advocates' Library'', 1936. From 1928 to 1943 he was managing director of Bernard Quaritch Ltd. He retired in 1947, to work in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

on a comprehensive catalogue of early English books. He left his cards and slips to the British Museum, and a collection of 220 Scottish books to the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

. In 1954 he had presented 241 early Scottish books to the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

, and other portions of his library are held by the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. Ferguson was President of the

Bibliographical Society Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society in the UK dealing with the study of the book and its history. The Society promotes and encourages study and research in historical, analytical, descriptive and textual ...

(1950–1952) and received the Society'
Gold Medal
in 1951.

References

*E. W. F. Tomlin
‘Ferguson, Frederic Sutherland (1878–1967)’
rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Frederic Sutherland 1878 births 1967 deaths Alumni of King's College London People educated at Hackney Downs School English bibliographers Presidents of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association Presidents of the Bibliographical Society

See also

References