Robert Bowes (born 22 August 1835, near Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland – died 9 February 1919, Park Terrace, Cambridge.
He is known for A Catalogue of Books Printed at or relating to the University, Town & County of Cambridge, from 1521 to 1893 : with Bibliographical and Biographical Notes 1891–1894 (praised by David McKitterick as "monumental and still unsuperseded").
At an early age Robert Bowes was sent to Cambridge, England to work in his uncles' business, which consisted of "bookselling, publishing, printing, and the supply of stationery".
[2] In its early years, the Macmillan business consisted mainly of academic books, with a few works of fiction — one major success was publication in 1855 of Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho!
Leading writers across many diverse fields – Alfred Tennyson, Herbert Spencer, T. H. Huxley, Francis Turner Palgrave, Coventry Patmore, Charles Kingsley, Thomas Hughes ... and others would gather for evening feasts of “talk, tobacco and tipple”.