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Arundell James Kennedy Esdaile CBE FLA (1880 – 22 June 1956) was a British librarian, and Secretary to the British Museum from 1926 to 1940.

Career

Secretary to the British Museum from 1926 to 1940, Esdaile was also president of the Library Association, and editor of its journal, the Library Association Record. In addition, he edited The Year’s Work in Librarianship and Sussex Notes and Queries.

In 1926, he delivered Cambridge University’s Sandars Lectures in Bibliography—one of the major British bibliographical lecture series—on the topic of "Elements of the bibliography of English literature, materials and methods". The lectures were published in 1928 under the title The Sources of English Literature: A Bibliographical Guide for Students.

Esdaile was appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1952; over a decade earlier, in 1939, the University of Liverpool had conferred on him an honorary doctorate.

Personal life

In 1907, he married the art historian Katharine Ada McDowall, and they had a daughter followed by two sons.

Later life

Esdaile died on 22 June 1956.

Selected publications

Academic works

• Catalogue of the Fifty Manuscripts & Printed Books Bequeathed to the British Museum by Alfred H. Huth. London: British Museum, 1912.
• A List of English Tales and Prose Romances Printed before 1740. London: Bibliographical Society, 1912.
• A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers Who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Bibliographical Society, 1922.
• The Sources of English Literature: A Bibliographical Guide for Students. Sandars Lectures 1926. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928.
• The British Museum Library: A Short History and Survey. Library Association Series of Library Manuals, 9. London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1948.
• National Libraries of the World; Their History, Administration and Public Services. 2nd rev. edn. London: Library Association, 1957.

Poetry

• The Inviolable Shade. Boyle, Son and Watchurst, 1912.
• Wise Men From the West and Other Poems. Andrew Dakers, 1949.

References

1. ^ Baker, Malcolm (2004). "Esdaile [née McDowall], Katharine Ada". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33026. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 30 November 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. ^ Ollé, James G. (1980). "Arundell Esdaile: A Centenary Tribute". Journal of Librarianship. 12 (4): 217–228. doi:10.1177/096100068001200402. S2CID 143951911.
3. ^ Savage, E.A. (1956). "Arundell Esdaile, 1880–1956". Library Review. 15 (7): 474–477. doi:10.1108/eb012262.
4. "List of Sandars Readers and lecture subjects". Cambridge University Library. Archived from the original on 14 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
5. ^ G.B. (1956). "Arundell James Kennedy Esdaile, C.B.E., Litt.D. 1880–1956". English: Journal of the English Association. 11 (63): 96. doi:10.1093/english/11.63.96.

• 1880 births
• 1956 deaths
• British librarians
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• Employees of the British Museum