Edward Edwards (librarian)

[1] Also, Edwards received private lessons from Edwin Abbott and was—as was his teacher—a member of a German reading circle of the Marylebone Literary and Scientific Institution.

The wide range of these pursuits may be traced to the frequency of Edwards's presence at functions of the Society of Wranglers, a radical art and literary discussion club.

[1][2] Later that year, Edwards published an open letter to Benjamin Hawes, who had sat on the parliamentary select committee on the British Museum.

In 1839, Edwards joined the staff and became a supernumerary assistant in the printed book department, for especial employment on the new catalogue ordered by the trustees.

[2] The librarianship of the first important free library established under Mr. Ewart's act was offered to Edwards,[2] who was happy to accept as his superiors at the British Museum were frequently dissatisfied by his work ethic.

[2] It was not long, however, until the management became aware of Edwards' frequent absences and his conduct of private research during work time which finally lead to his dismissal in 1858.

[2] From 1870 to 1876 Edwards was engaged to catalogue the library of Queen's College, Oxford, which marked a happy period in his life only disturbed by the death his wife in 1876.

[1] The Library Association elected Edwards as an honorary member in 1882; in the same year, he was asked to revise the articles Newspapers and Post Office for the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

[1] After Edwards was dismissed from his engagement at Oxford due to economic shortages,[1] he retired to Niton, Isle of Wight, and occupied himself with projects for a second edition of his Memoirs of Libraries, with great alterations and improvements.

[1] In November 1885, he got lost on an excursion[1] and was found after several days "in a state of hypothermia sheltering inside a roofless building next to St. Catherine's Oratory and afterwards developed pneumonia".