Henry George Bohn

Henry George Bohn – Life, Works, and Legacy

Learn about Henry George Bohn (1796–1884), the British publisher and bibliophile who founded the influential Bohn’s Libraries, his role in democratizing access to standard works, and his lasting contributions to publishing and bibliography.

Introduction

Henry George Bohn was a towering figure in 19th-century British publishing and the world of bookselling. While not a literary author in the conventional sense, Bohn’s vision and industriousness reshaped how knowledge was disseminated. His series Bohn’s Libraries—reissues of classic works across many fields—made affordable editions of serious literature accessible to a broad audience. Through his work as a bookseller, publisher, editor, and collector, Bohn left a lasting influence on the publishing world, bibliography, and the culture of reading.

Below is a detailed portrait of his life, achievements, and the lessons from his example.

Early Life and Family

Henry George Bohn was born on 4 January 1796 in London. Henry Martin Bohn, was a German bookbinder who had immigrated to London (from Münster or Westphalia) and settled there, and his mother had Scottish ancestry.

Even as a youth, Bohn showed a strong facility with languages and an appetite for travel. At age around 16 (circa 1812), he already began purchasing books across Europe for his father’s business.

Bohn married Elizabeth Simpkin, daughter of William Simpkin (of the publishing/book trade firm Simpkin, Marshall & Co.), in 1831.

Business Beginnings & Rise

Early Career in the Family Business

For many years, Bohn worked under his father’s business umbrella.

In 1831, with modest capital (about £1,000 of his own plus an additional £1,000 borrowed from his father-in-law), he established his own bookshop at 4 York Street, Covent Garden, London.

The “Guinea Catalogue” & Reputation

A major turning point came in 1841, when Bohn published his “Guinea Catalogue”—a monumental listing of 23,208 items, covering both rare books and remainders.

From then on, Bohn increasingly shifted from rare-books trade to handling remainders (unsold stock) and reprints.

Launch of Bohn’s Libraries

In 1846, Bohn inaugurated what would become his signature project: Bohn’s Libraries.

He structured his publishing in series: the Standard Library, followed by Scientific Library, Antiquarian Library, Classical Library, Illustrated Library, Shilling Series, Philological/Philosophical Library, British Classics, and more. Bohn’s Libraries included over 600 volumes.

These editions were priced affordably and marketed to a broader public readership, reducing the cost barrier to classical and serious works.

Literary & orial Contributions

Although Bohn is primarily known as a publisher and bookseller rather than an author of original literary works, he himself edited, compiled, translated, and expanded many works in the series. Some of his key editorial and authorial works include:

• A revision and expanded edition (6 volumes, 1864) of Lowndes’s Bibliographer’s Manual of English Literature (original 1834).

• The Origin and Progress of Printing (1857)

• Biography and Bibliography of Shakespeare (1863)

• Dictionary of Quotations from the English Poets (1867)

• Hand-book of Proverbs (1855)

• Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857)

• A Hand-book of Games (1850)

• A Guide to the Knowledge of Pottery and Porcelain (1857)

He also took part in the selection, translation, and editing of works included in his series under the Bohn’s Libraries umbrella.

Later Years, Sale, and Retirement

By 1864, Bohn was ready to withdraw from active publishing. He sold the stock, copyrights, and stereotypes of his Libraries to Bell & Daldy for approximately £40,000. Chatto & Windus for about £20,000.

Even after the sale, Bohn remained active in cataloguing and managing portions of his remaining holdings of used books (remainders). He maintained premises near Covent Garden and in Henrietta Street until about 1881.

He devoted his later years to personal projects: cataloguing his art and book collections, compiling manuscripts, and managing sales of his collected works of art, china, porcelains, and rare objects.

Bohn passed away on 22 August 1884 at Twickenham and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery.

Legacy & Significance

Henry George Bohn’s legacy is multifaceted:

1. Democratizing Access to Knowledge
   By producing affordable reprints of serious works in science, classics, theology, and history, Bohn expanded access beyond elite scholarly circles. His series lowered the average cost of books in England between 1828 and 1853.

2. Innovations in Publishing Strategy
   His serial model (grouping works by theme or field in uniform format) and his remainders/paperbacks strategy presaged modern mass-market editions. His use of low-price editions without excessive pretension was a clever business model in the Victorian era.

3. Bibliographical Scholarship & ing
   His enlargement of Lowndes’s Bibliographer’s Manual, his Shakespeare bibliography, and his indices and catalogues remain landmarks in bibliographical work.

4. Collecting & Cultural Patronage
   Bohn was also a collector of art, porcelain, ivories, and rare objects. His estates in Twickenham displayed gardens, exotic plants, and his collections were widely noted.

5. Influence on Publishing and Libraries
   The Bohn series continued under new ownership, and his model inspired other publishers. The Bohn’s Libraries series is still remembered by bibliophiles and libraries.

While he did not leave behind many pithy quotations widely circulated today, his intellectual energy and business acumen speak volumes about his principle: that good books should be within reach of many, not a privileged few.

Lessons from Henry George Bohn

• Combine cultural ambition with business savvy. Bohn balanced financial sustainability with intellectual purpose—making serious works accessible without sacrificing quality.

• Vision and persistence matter. His transformation from bookseller to publisher of hundreds of volumes was gradual, involving risk, investment, and hard work.

• Attention to detail is key. His catalogues, bibliographies, indices, and editorial work show that success often lies in meticulous, often unseen, labor.

• Bridge between scholarship and public readership. Bohn's model illustrates how academic and classic works can be reshaped for wider audiences without dumbing down.

• Legacy is not only in creation but in enabling others. While he published others’ works, his greatest imprint is in the infrastructure he built for knowledge dissemination.