Bohn, Henry George (1796–1884)

English bookseller and publisher, of German parentage. His ‘guinea catalogue’ of rare books (1841) attracted much attention. In 1846 he launched his Standard Library of reprints, and followed with this a series of other libraries; by 1853 he had issued over 600 volumes in cheap form. Many of the translations and compilations were his own work.

He was born in London, where his father, a Westphalian by birth, had a second-hand bookshop. As his father refused to admit him to partnership, Bohn set up in business for himself.

He also edited William Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual of English Literature (1834), The Origin and Progress of Printing (1857), and the Biography and Bibliography of Shakespeare (1863).