Henry Graham Pollard (known as Graham Pollard) (7 March 1903 – 15 November 1976) was a British bookseller and bibliographer.

Early life

Pollard was the son of the historian Albert Pollard and was born in Putney, London on 7 March 1903. After studying at Shrewsbury School, Pollard studied history for one year at University College, London before winning a scholarship to Jesus College, Oxford in 1921, obtaining a third-class degree in history in 1924. At Oxford he was part of the Hypocrites' Club. In that year he married Kay Beauchamp, pioneering Communist and women's rights campaigner. (Their marriage was dissolved in 1972).

Career

Even whilst he was a student, he was well known as a book collector, and bought part of a booksellers' business (Birrell and Garnett) in London. He became managing director in 1927, with the company producing many noted catalogues in the 1920s and 1930s, some of which were to become standard works of reference. Pollard's knowledge of his subject was displayed in his contributions to '' The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'' and in his lectures and articles. With John Carter, he wrote ''An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets'' (1934), exposing the prominent book collector

Thomas J. Wise Thomas James Wise (7 October 1859 – 13 May 1937) was a bibliophile and thief who collected the Ashley Library, now housed by the British Library, and later became known for the literary forgeries he printed and sold. Collecting career Wise ...

as a fraud. In 1937, Harry Carter, Ellic Howe,

Alfred F. Johnson Alfred Forbes Johnson, MC (November 1884 – 27 March 1972) was an English academic librarian, bibliographer, curator, and expert in typography. He was Deputy Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum. He is author of many bibliographica ...

, Stanley Morison and Graham Pollard started to produce a list of all known pre-1800 type specimens. The list was published in '' The Library'' in 1942. However, because of the war, many libraries at the European continent were not accessible anymore. In 1939, the bookshop partnership ended and Pollard became a special lecturer at University College, London before joining the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

in 1942; whilst this was supposedly a temporary appointment, he remained until retirement in 1959. He maintained his bibliographical interests, publishing an edition of ''The Earliest Directory of the Book Trade'' by

John Pendred John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1785), and lecturing in Cambridge shortly before his retirement. During his retirement, he was president from 1960 to 1962 of the London

Bibliographical Society Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society dealing with the study of the book and its history in the United Kingdom. Largely owing to the efforts of Walter Arthur Copinger, who was supported by Richard Copley ...

, which awarded him its gold medal in 1969, and was Reader in Bibliography at the University of Oxford in 1961, lecturing on the book trade in medieval Oxford. He also lectured in the United States in 1973, and received a volume of essays published in his honour by the Oxford Bibliographical Society in 1975. He died at the

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on 15 November 1976. In 2018, it was alleged in

Henry Hemming Henry Hemming (born December 1979) is an English non-fiction author. In 2017 it was announced that his book, ''M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster'', based on the life of Maxwell Knight, would be adapted for television by Mammoth Screen w ...

's ''M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster'' that Pollard spied on the Communist Party for

Maxwell Knight Charles Henry Maxwell Knight OBE, known as Maxwell Knight, (9 July 1900 – 27 January 1968) was a British spymaster, naturalist and broadcaster, reputedly a model for the James Bond character "M". He played major roles in surveillance of an e ...

and the British security services.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Graham 1903 births 1976 deaths British bibliographers British booksellers Civil servants in the Board of Trade Alumni of University College London Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Oxford People from Putney