Nicolas Barker
Author of The British Library Souvenir Guide
About the Author
Nicolas Barker OBE FBA has had a long and very distinguished career in the world of books. In publishing, he worked for Rupert Hart-Davis, Macmillan and OUP, and then for twenty years was Deputy Keeper at the British Library, responsible for Conservation
Image credit: Rare Book School
Series
Works by Nicolas Barker
Botanical Prints from the Hortus Eystettensis: Selections from the Most Beautiful Botanical Book in the World (2000) 49 copies
The Oxford University Press and the spread of learning, 1478-1978 : an illustrated history (1978) 41 copies
Portrait of an Obsession: The Life of the World's Greatest Book Collector (1967) — Adapter — 39 copies, 2 reviews
The pleasures of bibliophily : fifty years of The book collector : an anthology (2003) — Editor — 25 copies
A sequel to An enquiry into the nature of certain XIXth century pamphlets (1983) 10 copies, 1 review
A poet in paradise: Lord Lindsay and Christian art : National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2000 (2000) 9 copies
The Butterfly Books: An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Twentieth Century Pamphlets (1987) 4 copies, 1 review
Aldus Manutius: Mercantile empire of the intellect (Occasional papers / UCLA, University Research Library, Department of Special Collections) (1989) 3 copies
The Future of Typographical Studies 3 copies
The London Library: A Guide 2 copies
Caxton's Typography 1 copy
Robert Burns. The Poet's Progress. A Bicentennial Exhibition at the Rosenbach Museum & Library (1995) 1 copy
The York Gospels: a facsimile with introductory essays by Jonathan Alexander, Patrick McGurk, Simon Keynes and Bernard Barr (1986) 1 copy
Associated Works
An Enquiry Into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth Century Pamphlets (1934) — Editor, some editions — 38 copies, 1 review
A Millennium of the Book: Production, Design and Illustration in Manuscript and Print, 900-1900 (1994) — Contributor — 30 copies
Sotheby's: The Collection of the Garden Ltd: Magnificent Books and Manuscripts: November 9 and 10, 1989: Sale 5927 (1989) — Foreword — 17 copies
The Early Life of James McBey: An Autobiography, 1883-1911 (1977) — Editor, some editions — 15 copies, 2 reviews
Bookbindings & Other Bibliophily: Essays in Honour of Anthony Hobson (1994) — Contributor — 11 copies
Library of Robert Hooke: The Scientific Book Trade of Restoration England (1989) — Preface — 6 copies
Early American Bookbindings from the Collection of Michael Papantonio (1985) — Contributor — 6 copies, 1 review
Forged Documents: Proceedings of the 1989 Houston Conference (1990) — Contributor — 6 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Barker, Nicolas
- Legal name
- Barker, Nicolas John
- Birthdate
- 1932-12-06
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- historian
curator
editor - Organizations
- British Museum
The Book Collector
The Roxburghe Club - Awards and honors
- Order of the British Empire (Officer ∙ 2002)
Fellow, British Academy (1998)
Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London (2012) - Nationality
- UK
- Places of residence
- London, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Discussions
Folio Archives 69: Folio Bibliographies : Folio 21, 1968-1971, 25, 34, 40, 50 and 60 in Folio Society Devotees (June 2025)
Reviews
The life, trials and tribulations of the world's greatest book collector (or perhaps I should say the trials and tribulations of anyone who ever came in contact with the world's greatest book collector). Sir Thomas Phillipps was definitely not an easy man to get along with, but his contributions to the world of the book are important. Munby's biography (as adapted by Barker) is a fabulous treatment of this man, who can best (and probably most charitably) be described as a "character."
A Potencie of Life: Books in Society : The Clark Lectures 1986-1987 (British Library Studies in the History of the Book) by Nicolas Barker
I borrowed this book entirely to have a look at Barker and Adams (fairly well-known) reworking of Darnton's communication cycle and did not expect to find such a treasure trove of articles about book history. It doesn't often happen that I take the time to read the articles in essay / lecture collections which have no relevance to my thesis but the quality was so high in this volume that it was a pleasure to do so. Who knew about paper? I do now!
Portrait of an obsession : the life of Sir Thomas Phillipps, the world's greatest book collector by A. N. L. Munby
An excellent read. I collect books by and about J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps and wanted to read this bio about the father-in-law who hated him so much. Nicolas Barker does a good job in reducing A.N.L. Munby's five-volume work on Sir Thomas Phillipps and his collections into one readable volume. I came away understanding why Phillipps hated his son-in-law so much, and why he is considered the world's greatest bibliomaniac. Previously I thought books were his passion – he wanted a copy of show more "every book published," – but it was manuscripts that were his primary passion. And his family suffered for his passion. Sir Thomas Phillipps was not a very nice man. show less
The Butterfly Books: An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Twentieth Century Pamphlets by Nicolas Barker
One of those books I wish I hadn't waited so long to read. A fascinating account of Prokosch's forged poetry pamphlets, with excellent and thorough descriptions.
Lists
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 67
- Also by
- 14
- Members
- 606
- Popularity
- #41,483
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 8
- ISBNs
- 34