Henry Stevens
Encyclopedia
Henry Stevens American
bibliographer
, was born in Barnet, Vermont
.
He studied at Middlebury College, Vermont
, in 1838–1839, graduated at Yale
in 1843, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
, and studied at Harvard Law School
in 1843–1844. In 1845 he went to London
, where he was employed during most of the remainder of his life as a collector of Americana for the British Museum
and for various public and private American libraries.
He was engaged by Sir Anthony Panizzi
, librarian of the British Museum, to collect historical books, documents, journals, etc., concerning North and South America; and he was purchasing agent for the Smithsonian Institution
and for the Library of Congress
, as well as for James Lenox
, of New York, for whom he secured much of the valuable Americana in the Lenox library in that city, and for the John Carter Brown
library, at Providence, Rhode Island
. He became a member of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1852, and in 1877 was a member of the committee which organized the Caxton
Exhibition, for which he catalogued the collection of Bible
s. He died at South Hampstead
, England, on the 28th of February 1886. His brother, Benjamin Franklin Stevens
, also a bibliographer.
His principal compilations and publications were:
The Life of Thomas Hariot
"In the year 1877 the late Mr. Henry Stevens of Vermont, under the pseudonym of ' Mr. Secretary Outis,' projected and initiated a literary Association entitled THE HERCULES CLUB. The following extracts from the original prospectus of that year explain this platform:
"The objects of this Association are literary, social, antiquarian, festive and historical ; and its aims are thoroughly independent research into the materials of early Anglo-American history and literature. The Association is known as THE HERCULES CLUB, whose Eurystheus is Historic Truth and whose appointed labours are to clear this field for the historian of the future." The founders of the club believed that many valuable historical documents of the Age of Discovery still awaited publication and selected ten topics for which members would contribute research and writings. The ambitious list of topics which they selected for their initial publication were as follows:
"The co-operative objects of the Association, however, appear never to have been fully inaugurated, although a large number of literary men, collectors, societies and libraries entered their names as Members of the Club. All were willing to give their pecuniary support as subscribers to the Club's publications, but few offered the more valuable aid of their literary assistance; hence practically the whole of the editing also devolved upon Mr. Henry Stevens.
"He first took up No. 10 on the above list, Hariot's Virginia. His long and diligent study for the introduction thereto, resulted in the discovery of so much new and important matter relative to Hariot and Raleigh, that it became necessary to embody it in a separate volume, as the maximum dimensions contemplated for the introduction to each work had been exceeded tenfold or more."
On the death of Mr. Stevens in 1886, the completion of the project devolved upon his son Henry N. Stevens who assessed the situation as follows: "Ever since 1886 I have from time to time unsuccessfully endeavoured to enlist the services of various editors competent to complete the projected eleven volumes of the Hercules Club publications, but after a lapse of nearly fourteen years I have awakened to the fact that no actual progress has been made, and that I have secured nothing beyond the vague promise of future assistance." However all was not lost. Mr Stevens (Jr.) found that "On collating the printed stock I found that the two volumes, Hariot's Virginia and the Life of Hariot, were practically complete, the text of both all printed off, and the titles and preliminary leaves and the Index to Hariot's Virginia actually standing in type at the Chiswick Press just as my father left them fourteen years ago!" Thus it was not until 1900, almost 300 years after Hariot's death that the first serious biography appeared.
Even so the work was not widely distributed, only 162 copies had been printed and one of these deposited in the Harvard College Library. In 1972 the Burt Franklin Press, NYC, issued a reprint edition of the 'Life of Hariot" making it finally available to the literary public. And so 350 years after Hariot's death the true story of his life began slowly to appear. The volume here referred to is titled:
Stevens consulted the records in the British Museum and found Hariot's will, but did not visit Petworth where the bulk of Hariot's papers were located. Also Stevens was not a mathematician and not equipped to evaluate properly Hariot's mathematical writings including his book on algebra (Artis Analyticae Praxis) which was published posthumously (1631). In fact it is only in 2007 that a full translation into English has been completed.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
bibliographer
Bibliographer
"A bibliographer is a person who describes and lists books and other publications, with particular attention to such characteristics as authorship, publication date, edition, typography, etc. The result of this endeavor is a bibliography...
, was born in Barnet, Vermont
Barnet, Vermont
Barnet is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,690 at the 2000 census. Barnet contains the locations of Barnet Center, East Barnet, McIndoe Falls, Mosquitoville, Passumpsic and West Barnet.-Geography:...
.
He studied at Middlebury College, Vermont
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
, in 1838–1839, graduated at Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1843, where he was a member of Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
, and studied at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1843–1844. In 1845 he went to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he was employed during most of the remainder of his life as a collector of Americana for the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
and for various public and private American libraries.
He was engaged by Sir Anthony Panizzi
Anthony Panizzi
Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi , better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a naturalized British librarian of Italian birth and an Italian patriot.-Early life in Italy:...
, librarian of the British Museum, to collect historical books, documents, journals, etc., concerning North and South America; and he was purchasing agent for the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
and for the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, as well as for James Lenox
James Lenox
James Lenox was an American bibliophile and philanthropist. His collection of paintings and books eventually became known as the Lenox Library and later became part of the New York Public Library in 1895.-Biography:...
, of New York, for whom he secured much of the valuable Americana in the Lenox library in that city, and for the John Carter Brown
John Carter Brown
John Carter Brown II was a book collector whose library formed the basis of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.-Biography:...
library, at Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. He became a member of the Society of Antiquaries
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
in 1852, and in 1877 was a member of the committee which organized the Caxton
William Caxton
William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. As far as is known, he was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England...
Exhibition, for which he catalogued the collection of Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
s. He died at South Hampstead
South Hampstead
South Hampstead is a district of northwest London, part of the London Borough of Camden. It could be defined as the area between West End Lane, Belsize Road, Finchley Road and Broadhurst Gardens, although the area is largely indistinguishable from the nearby Swiss Cottage.-Nearby places:* Hampstead...
, England, on the 28th of February 1886. His brother, Benjamin Franklin Stevens
Benjamin Franklin Stevens
Benjamin Franklin Stevens , like his brother Henry Stevens was a bibliographer, was born at Barnet, Vermont, was educated at the University of Vermont, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Society....
, also a bibliographer.
His principal compilations and publications were:
- an Analytical Index to the Colonial Documents of New Jersey in the State Paper Office in England (1858), constituting vol. v. of the New Jersey Historical Society's Collections
- Collection of Historical Papers relating to Rhode Island ... 1640–1775 (6 vols), for the John Carter Brown Library
- historical indexes of the colonial documents relating to Maryland (10 vols), now in the library of the Maryland Historical Society
- a collection of papers relating to Virginia for the period 1585–1775, incomplete, deposited in the Virginia state library in 1858
- a valuable Catalogue of American Maps in the Library of the British Museum (1856)
- catalogues of American, of Mexican and other Spanish-American and of Canadian and other British North American books in the library of the British Museum
- Historical and Geographical Notes on the Earliest Discoveries in America, 1153–1530, with Comments on the Earliest Maps and Charts, etc. (1869)
- Sebastian Cabot/John Cabot (1870)
- The Bibles in the Caxton Exhibition, 1877 (1878)
- Recollections of Mr James Lenox, of New York, and the Formation of his Library (1886).
- The unpublished papers of Henry Stevens, bookdealer, (2½ linear feet) are deposited in the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Some additional papers are deposited in the Yale University Library., and the Charles E. Young Research Library at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Life of Thomas HariotThomas HarriotThomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
and the "Hercules Club"
"In the year 1877 the late Mr. Henry Stevens of Vermont, under the pseudonym of ' Mr. Secretary Outis,' projected and initiated a literary Association entitled THE HERCULES CLUB. The following extracts from the original prospectus of that year explain this platform:"The objects of this Association are literary, social, antiquarian, festive and historical ; and its aims are thoroughly independent research into the materials of early Anglo-American history and literature. The Association is known as THE HERCULES CLUB, whose Eurystheus is Historic Truth and whose appointed labours are to clear this field for the historian of the future." The founders of the club believed that many valuable historical documents of the Age of Discovery still awaited publication and selected ten topics for which members would contribute research and writings. The ambitious list of topics which they selected for their initial publication were as follows:
- 1. Waymouth (Capt. George) Voyage to North Virginia in 1605. By James Rosier. London, 1605, 4°
- 2. Sil. Jourdan's Description of Barmuda. London, 1610, 4°
- 3. Lochinvar. Encouragements for such as shall have intention to bee Vndertakers in the new plantation of Cape Breton, now New Galloway. Edinburgh, 1625, 4°
- 4. Voyage into New England in 1623-24.. By Christopher Levett. London, 1628, 4°
- 5. Capt. John Smith's True Relation of such occurrences of Noate as hath hapned in Virginia. London, 1608, 4°
- 6. Gosnold's Voyage to the North part of Virginia in 1602. By John Brereton. London, 1602, 4°
- 7. A Plain Description of the Barmudas, now called Sommer Islands. London, 1613, 4°
- 8. For the Colony in Virginia Brittania, Lavves Divine Morall and Martiall, &c. London, 1612, 4°
- 9. Capt. John Smith's Description of NewEngland, 16l4-15, map. London, 1616, 4°
- 10. Hariot (Thomas) Briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia. London, 1588, 4°
"The co-operative objects of the Association, however, appear never to have been fully inaugurated, although a large number of literary men, collectors, societies and libraries entered their names as Members of the Club. All were willing to give their pecuniary support as subscribers to the Club's publications, but few offered the more valuable aid of their literary assistance; hence practically the whole of the editing also devolved upon Mr. Henry Stevens.
"He first took up No. 10 on the above list, Hariot's Virginia. His long and diligent study for the introduction thereto, resulted in the discovery of so much new and important matter relative to Hariot and Raleigh, that it became necessary to embody it in a separate volume, as the maximum dimensions contemplated for the introduction to each work had been exceeded tenfold or more."
On the death of Mr. Stevens in 1886, the completion of the project devolved upon his son Henry N. Stevens who assessed the situation as follows: "Ever since 1886 I have from time to time unsuccessfully endeavoured to enlist the services of various editors competent to complete the projected eleven volumes of the Hercules Club publications, but after a lapse of nearly fourteen years I have awakened to the fact that no actual progress has been made, and that I have secured nothing beyond the vague promise of future assistance." However all was not lost. Mr Stevens (Jr.) found that "On collating the printed stock I found that the two volumes, Hariot's Virginia and the Life of Hariot, were practically complete, the text of both all printed off, and the titles and preliminary leaves and the Index to Hariot's Virginia actually standing in type at the Chiswick Press just as my father left them fourteen years ago!" Thus it was not until 1900, almost 300 years after Hariot's death that the first serious biography appeared.
Even so the work was not widely distributed, only 162 copies had been printed and one of these deposited in the Harvard College Library. In 1972 the Burt Franklin Press, NYC, issued a reprint edition of the 'Life of Hariot" making it finally available to the literary public. And so 350 years after Hariot's death the true story of his life began slowly to appear. The volume here referred to is titled:
- THOMAS HARIOT THE MATHEMATICIAN THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE SCHOLAR
- DEVELOPED CHIEFLY FROM DORMANT MATERIALS WITH NOTICES OF HIS ASSOCIATES
- INCLUDING BIOGRAPHICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DISQUISITIONS UPON THE MATERIALS OF THE
- HISTORY OF 'OULD VIRGINIA'
- BY HENRY STEVENS OF VERMONT
Stevens consulted the records in the British Museum and found Hariot's will, but did not visit Petworth where the bulk of Hariot's papers were located. Also Stevens was not a mathematician and not equipped to evaluate properly Hariot's mathematical writings including his book on algebra (Artis Analyticae Praxis) which was published posthumously (1631). In fact it is only in 2007 that a full translation into English has been completed.