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Note on Sources
Fredson Bowers put himself on record voluminously, and his own writings, which are naturally the primary source for his intellectual biography, also contain a surprising amount of personal information. (They are recorded in the accompanying checklist, which is followed by a chronology.) Among other printed sources, there are several pamphlets of biographical interest that appeared in connection with significant moments in his life: at the time of his Gold Medal from the Bibliographical Society, John Carter's elegant assessment was printed in The Gold Medal of the Bibliographical Society: Graham Pollard, Fredson Bowers, 1969 (1969); at the time his last year of teaching began, a chronology of his life and a selection of photographs (described in the text above) appeared in A Keepsake to Honor Fredson Bowers (1974), and a list of the students who wrote dissertations with him was included in a menu-keepsake entitled Honoring Fredson Bowers: A Dinner with His Doctoral Students (26 October 1974); and at the time of his eightieth birthday, Fredson Bowers at Eighty (1985; reprinted from Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America [PBSA]) contained my address "The Achievement of Fredson Bowers" (many passages from which are incorporated into the last section of the present essay), David L. Vander Meulen's "The History and Future of Bowers's Principles," David J. Nordloh's brief account of "The Bowers Eightieth-Birthday Conference," a resolution from the Bibliographical Society of America, and a checklist supplementing Bowers's own checklist of his writings in his 1975 Essays (which also included a chronology).
Bowers's death of course produced a large outpouring of biographical accounts and memoirs. Two substantial gatherings have appeared: a "Fredson Bowers Commemorative Issue" (ed. Ross Harvey) of the Bulletin of the Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand (15.2 [Second Quarter 1991], 45-102), which contains reminiscences by Hans Walter Gabler, Clive Probyn, and David L. Vander Meulen, along with articles by Joost Daalder (on Marlowe's Doctor Faustus), Paul Eggert (on Bowers's textual practice), B. J. McMullin (on the Principles), and Peter L. Shillingsburg (on the concept of work); and "Fredson Thayer Bowers" in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook 1991, ed. James W. Hipp (1992), pp. 224-253, which contains articles by Matthew J. Bruccoli (on working with Bowers), Irby B. Cauthen, Jr. (on Bowers as teacher), George L. Geckle (on Bowers as literary critic), Ignas K. Skrupskelis (on Bowers as editor of William James), Robert Kean Turner (on Bowers as editor of Beaumont and Fletcher), David L. Vander Meulen (on Bowers as music critic), and George Walton Williams (on Studies). Among the other notable obituary tributes are Nicolas Barker, "Professor Fredson Bowers," The Independent (London), 15 April 1991 (reprinted in Book Collector, 40 [1991], 257-259); Jo Ann Boydston, "In Memoriam: Fredson Thayer Bowers," Documentary Editing, 13 (1991), 68; Peter Davison, "Fredson Thayer Bowers," The Library, 6th ser., 13 (1991), 356-358; Conor Fahy, "In Memoriam Fredson Bowers (1905-1991)," Bibliofilia, 93 (1991), 311-321; Roy Flannagan, "The Death of Fredson Bowers," Shakespeare Electronic Conference, 2.126 (5 May 1991); G. Thomas Tanselle, "In Memoriam: Fredson Bowers, 1905-1991," PBSA, 85 (1991), 183-187, and "Fredson Thayer Bowers," Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 101 (1991), 235-240; David L. Vander Meulen, "In Memoriam: Fredson Thayer Bowers (1905-91)," South Atlantic Review, 56.3 (September 1991), 165-167, and "Fredson Bowers and the Eighteenth Century," Johnsonian News Letter, 52.2-3 (June-September 1992).
For the general context of bibliographical history into which Bowers's work fits, one might turn to my "Issues in Bibliographical Studies since 1942," in The Book Encompassed, ed. Peter Davison (1992), pp. 24-36. The influence of Bowers in the fields of descriptive bibliography and textual criticism is so pervasive that almost everything about them since mid-century discusses him in one way or another. For descriptive bibliography, the places to start are Vander Meulen's PBSA article cited above; two Engelhard Lectures, his Where Angels Fear to Tread (1988) and my A Description of Descriptive Bibliography (1992; also printed in Studies in Bibliography [SB], 45 [1992], 1-30); and my "A Sample Bibliographical
Reviews of Bowers's monographs and editions of course form another extensive body of commentary. In the present essay I have mentioned the reviews that seem to me the most significant or useful, and I shall not repeat those references here. For additional reviews of the Principles, one should consult Vander Meulen's 1985 article (cited above). For some of the other books and editions, I list here a few more worthwhile reviews: on Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy—Frederick S. Boas in Year's Work in English Studies (1940), Edgar C. Knowlton in South Atlantic Quarterly (1941), and Leland Schubert in Quarterly Journal of Speech (1940); on On Editing Shakespeare—James G. McManaway in Shakespeare Survey (1956); on Textual and Literary Criticism—Johan Gerritsen in English Studies (1967), Donald J. Greene in Studies in English Literature (1961), Victor M. Hamm in Thought (1960), John Edward Hardy in Yale Review (1959-60), F. D. Hoeniger in Queen's Quarterly (1960), James G. McManaway in Shakespeare Survey (1961), and Times Literary Supplement (17 April 1959); on Bibliography and Textual Criticism—Robert Donaldson in The Library (1965), Paul S. Dunkin in American Notes & Queries (1965), and Johan Gerritsen in English Studies (1967); on Beaumont and Fletcher edition—G. I. Duthie in English Language Notes (1966-67), Philip Edwards in The Library (1968), and Johan Gerritsen in Review of English Studies (1969, 1972, 1979); on Crane edition—Peter Davison in The Library (1972) and G. Thomas Tanselle in Book Collector (1974); on Dekker edition—J. R. Brown and W. W. Greg in Review of English Studies (1956, 1963) and Karl J. Holzknecht and Thomas B. Stroup in PBSA (1955, 1959); on Fielding edition—Frederick W. Hilles in Yale Review (1975; replied to by Martin C. Battestin, 1976) and Michael Irwin in Review of English Studies (1976); on Hawthorne edition—John Freehafer in Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien (1970), Leon Howard in Nineteenth-Century Fiction (1967-68), Buford Jones in Studies in the Novel (1970), G. Thomas Tanselle in Book Collector (1974), and Dennis Welland in The Library (1964); on Marlowe edition—Times Literary Supplement (8 February 1974); on Whitman edition—I. R. Willison in The Library (1956). In addition, the annual commentaries in Year's Work in English Studies and Shakespeare Survey should be examined: Bowers's name appears in the indexes nearly every year during his most active period.
A number of sources provide background for specific aspects of Bowers's life. For information on the family Bowers thought himself to be descended from, see Charles Candee Baldwin, Rev. John Bower, First Minister at Derby, Conn., and His Descendants (1879); for a picture of Brown University in Bowers's time, see By Quentin Reynolds (1963), in addition to the biographies of S. J. Perelman and Nathanael West cited in the essay; for an understanding of Bowers's place in the world of dogs, see the fiftieth-anniversary number of Harp & Hound, 27.1 (1976), esp. 19, 36-41 (and the earlier and briefer account in 5.2 [Spring 1954], 37); for a thorough listing of Bowers's music reviews (with the main subject of each column indicated), see John Denniston, "Fredson Bowers and 'Music Off Records': An Index of Newspaper Columns, 1939-1967" (April 1990 typescript, available in the Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library); for Bowers's place in the local stamp scene, see Bernard P. Chamberlain, "History of Charlottesville Stamp Club, 1936-1961" (1 September 1961 typescript, available in the Albemarle County Historical Society).
Nancy Hale's autobiographical and critical writings—especially A New England Girlhood (1958), The Realities of Fiction (1962), and The Life in the Studio (1969)—contain many passages relevant to the study of Bowers's life. Biographical accounts of Nancy Hale also inevitably contain relevant information; see the articles by Anne Hobson Freeman in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook 1980, ed. Karen L. Rood, Jean W. Ross, and Richard Ziegfeld (1981), pp. 212-219, and 1988, ed. J. M. Brook (1989), pp. 218-228 (the latter
Many of the details in the present essay come from manuscript sources or from conversations and correspondence I have had with persons who knew Bowers. The principal collection of his papers is in the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library (much of it housed under the classification numbers 5691 and RG-21/30.801, .811, .872, .881-.884, .901, .911). His work on the Crane and Nabokov editions is particularly well represented, but there are papers relating to other editions, as well as typescripts and proofs of a number of his articles, and some correspondence. Bowers's extraordinary term paper for Hyder Rollins at Harvard is a part of this collection (RG-21/30.882), as are the manuscript and typescript of his Richmond lecture on music (5691-f). Letters from this collection mentioned in the essay are Bowers's to Mrs. James Southall Wilson, 28 June 1963 (6453-f); Bowers's to David J. Nordloh, 17 January 1970, and to Matthew J. Bruccoli, 7 February 1970 (both RG-21/30.883); and A. L. Rowse's to Bowers, August 1982 (5691-ag). I am grateful for permission from the Library to quote from these documents.
Some important letters to Henry Allen Moe and Gordon N. Ray are in the files of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, along with Bowers's statements of plans for, and reports on, his Guggenheim Fellowships. All other quoted letters of Bowers—to Fredson T. Bowers, Jr., Jo Ann Boydston, David L. Vander Meulen, and me—are still in the hands of the recipients. (I am to be understood as the recipient whenever no other person is stated.) I have also drawn on several other unpublished documents: letters in the files of the University of Virginia English department (including V. A. Kolve's letter to Bowers, 28 May 1980); the typewritten citation for Bowers's Thomas Jefferson Award, 13 April 1971; typewritten reminiscences by Fredson T. Bowers, Jr., along with his compilation of excerpts from his father's letters and from other letters and tributes; memorial statements by Robert Langbaum and David Levin (21 April 1991); E. D. Hirsch's memorial resolution for the University of Virginia faculty meeting on 23 April 1991; and Hiroshi Yamashita's letter to David L. Vander Meulen, 22 July 1991.
I wish to express my gratitude to the following archivists, librarians, and representatives of organizations for their gracious assistance, in correspondence and in person: Ann Sergi, American Kennel Club Library; Susan Dixon, American Philatelic Research Library; Martha L. Mitchell and Gayle Lynch, Brown University Archives; Maxine Sullivan, University of Chicago Registrar's Office; Bruce Rutherford, Collectors Club Library; Martin Antonetti and Kimball Higgs, Grolier Club Library; Nancy Boyden, Harvard University Student Affairs Office; Alfred de Quoy and Mrs. Charles F. Schreiner, Irish Wolfhound Club of America; Warren F. Kimball, Jr., Mobile Post Office Society; James W. Campbell, New Haven Colony Historical Society; Carl Esche, Princeton University Archives; Maida Goodwin, Smith College Archives; and Kathryn N. Morgan and Michael F. Plunkett, University of Virginia Library Special Collections Department.
I am also greatly indebted to the following individuals (some of whom are quoted in the text) for their friendly cooperation and invaluable help: Martin C. and Ruthe Battestin, David M. Bevington, William H. Bond, Fredson T. Bowers, Jr., Jo Ann Boydston, Mark Eccles, Richard Colles Johnson, Gwin Kolb, Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Robert V. Lindsay, Nina W. Matheson, David Rubin, Samuel Schoenbaum, Sue Schwager, William B. Todd, Michael L. Turner, Robert Kean Turner, Jr., David L. and Doris Vander Meulen, James M. Wells, Anthony Winner, and Hiroshi Yamashita. Three of these people must be singled
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