# Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Ashbee, Henry Spencer

​ASHBEE, HENRY SPENCER (1834–1900), bibliographer, the son of Robert and Frances Ashbee (born Spencer), born in London on 21 April 1834, was apprenticed in youth to the large firm of Copestake's, Manchester warehousemen, in Bow Churchyard and Star Court, for whom he travelled for many years. Subsequently he founded and became senior partner in the London firm of Charles Lavy & Co., of Coleman Street, merchants, the parent house of which was in Hamburg. At Hamburg he married Miss Lavy, and about 1868 organised an important branch of the business at Paris (Rue des Jeuneurs), where he thenceforth spent much time. Having amassed a handsome fortune he devoted his leisure to travel, bibliography, and book collecting. He compiled the finest Cervantic library out of Spain, ​and perhaps the finest private library of the kind anywhere, if that of Señor Bonsoms at Barcelona be excepted. He indulged in extra-illustrated books, the gem of his collection being a Nichols's 'Literary Anecdotes,' extended from nine to forty-two volumes by the addition of some five thousand extra plates; he possessed an extraordinary series of books illustrated by Daniel Chodowiecki, the German Cruikshank; and he formed an unrivalled assortment of Kruptadia. Of these he issued privately and under the pseudonym of 'Pisanus Fraxi,' between 1877 and 1885, a very scarce and recondite catalogue — 'Notes on Curious and Uncommon Books' — in three volumes, entitled respectively 'Index Librorum Prohibitorum' (London, 1877, 4to), 'Centuria Librorum Absconditorum' (1879), and 'Catena Librorum Tacendorum' (1885). Introductory remarks and an index accompany each volume. Nearly all the books described are of the rarest possible occurrence. Not only is the work the first of its kind in England, but as a guide to the arcana of the subject it far excels the better known 'Bibliographie des principaux ouvrages relatifs a l'amour' (Brussels, 1864, 6 vols.) of Jules Gay. The bulk of Ashbee's Cervantic literature, early editions of Moliere and Le Sage, and other rare books to the number of 8,764 (in 15,299 volumes) were bequeathed upon his death to the British Museum, where they will be marked by a distinctive bookplate.
Ashbee was the joint author with Mr. Alexander Graham of 'Travels in Tunisia' (Times, 10 Aug. 1888), and in 1889 he brought out his 'Bibliography of the Barbary States — Tunisia,' a model, like all his bibliographical compilations, of thorough and conscientious work. In 1890, as a member of a small 'Sociéte des Amis des Livres,' he contributed 'The Distribution of Prospectuses' to 'Paris qui crie,' a sumptuous little volume, with coloured plates designed by Paul Vidal (Paris, 1890, 120 copies), and in the following year he contributed a paper on 'Marat en Angleterre' to 'Le Livre' of his friend Octave Uzanne (this was also printed separately). In 1895 was issued by the Bibliographical Society of London the fruit of Ashbee's labour of many years, 'An Iconography of Don Quixote, 1605-1895' (London, 8vo, with twenty-four very fine illustrative engravings; the first sketch of this had appeared in the 'Transactions of the Bibliographical Society' for 1893). Subsequent to this, as his dilettanteism grew more and more refined, he was contemplating a most elaborate bibliography of every fragment of printed matter written in the French language by Englishmen. Ashbee was a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Madrid, and an original member of the Bibliophiles Contemporains and of the Bibliographical Society of London. He contributed occasionally to 'Notes and Queries' from 1877 onwards, mainly on Cervantic matters; and as late as 28 April 1900) he addressed the Royal Society of British Artists upon his favourite subject of 'Don Quixote.' He divided most of his time between European travel (he was an excellent linguist) and his house in Bloomsbury (latterly in Bedford Square); he died, aged 60, on 29- July 1900 at his recently acquired country seat of Fowler's Park, Hawkhurst. His body was cremated and the ashes interred in the family vault at Kensal Green, He was survived by a widow, an only son, and three daughters. In addition to his bequest to the British Museum, he bequeathed to the South Kensington (Victoria and Albert) Museum a collection which comprises 204 works, mainly water-colour drawings, including early works by Turner, Bonington, Prout, Cattermole, De Wint, Cozens, David Cox, William Hunt, and John Varley. He bequeathed to the National Gallery a fine landscape ('River scene with ruins') by Richard Wilson [q. v.], and Mr. W. P, Frith's 'Uncle Toby and Widow Wadman.' A water-colour drawing by Sir James D. Linton of 'A Gentleman seated in his Library' was a portrait of Ashbee; it was sold at Christie's on 30 March 1901.
[Times, 1 Aug. 1900; Athenæum, 4 Aug. 1900; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. ix. 80, 159, 9th ser. vi. 122; Standard, 9 Nov. 1900; private information; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
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