Arthur Henry Bullen, often known as A. H. Bullen (9 February 1857,

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– 29 February 1920, Stratford-on-Avon), was an English editor and

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

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. A. H. Bullen's interest in Elizabethan dramatists and poets started at the

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, 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. Bullen wrote more than 150 articles for the ''

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'', lectured on Elizabethan dramatists at

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and taught at Toynbee Hall. 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 as partner, he then formed the Shakespeare Head Press and published a collected

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

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 Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, and studied law in Gray's Inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masque ...

. 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, 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 History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'' (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