Colin Franklin (bibliographer)
Colin Ellis Franklin, FSA (8 October 1923 – 17 May 2020) was an English writer, bibliographer, book-collector and antiquarian bookseller. Early life. Franklin was born in Notting Hill, London, into an affluent and influential British Jewish family. He was the son of Muriel Frances Waley (1894–1976) and Ellis Arthur Franklin (1894–1964), a London merchant banker. His sister was the posthumously-renowned biophysicist Rosalind Franklin. The uncle of Franklin's father was The 1st Viscount Samuel, who was Home Secretary in 1916 and the first practising Jew to serve in a British Cabinet; he was also the first  High Commissioner (the Governor of a territory that is not a Colony) for the British Mandate of Palestine. Franklin's aunt, Helen Caroline Franklin, married Norman Bentwich, later the Attorney-General of the British Mandate of Palestine; she was active in trade union organisation and women's suffrage, then a member of the London County Council and was appointed a CBE in 1965. Career. As a pupil at Oundle School, Colin developed an interest in William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites. After Oundle, he studied at St John's College, Oxford, and worked for some years in publishing (at Routledge  in London) before moving into antiquarian bookselling. He specialised in the study of private presses and the book-arts, but also wrote on Shakespeare, Japanese books and prints, Lord Chesterfield, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and on printing techniques and media. He was Honorary President of the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles, Patron to the Oundle School Society of Bibliophiles, President of the Private Libraries Association and the Double Crown Club. On 19 April 2019, he was appointed to the rank of "Chevalier" in the "Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur" by the President of France in recognition of his service on  HMS "Kimberley" in August 1944, when he was a junior officer taking part in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France.