Lionel Keir Robinson CBE MC (1897 - 9 November 1983) was an antiquarian bookseller and president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association. He was awarded the Military Cross during the First World War for conspicuous gallantry in continuing to perform his duties despite being under fire and having been gassed by the enemy.
He served in the Royal Garrison Artillery and the 2nd Australian Siege Artillery Battery [1] during the First World War as a Second Lieutenant and in 1918 was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty". [2] His citation read:
This officer was in a forward observation post for twenty-four hours preceding an enemy attack. Notwithstanding a heavy shell and machine-gun barrage and being badly "gassed" he remained at his post, transmitting valuable information to his battery that enabled them to direct their fire on the enemy in the most effective manner." [2]
He was captured with some Australian soldiers in Belgium and after the war wrote to them in Australia to inquire about their well-being and to say that he had recommended them for a medal. [3]
After the war, Robinson became an antiquarian bookseller, becoming president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association from 1938 to 1942. [4] In 1946, he and his brother Philip, raised £20,000 of their own capital and £80,000 from an investment bank to purchase the remainder of the Phillipps Collection of books and manuscripts from Alan Fenwick, inherited from his father Thomas Fenwick and passed down from Sir Thomas Phillipps. (See A. L. Munby, Phillipps Studies Book V and below). From 1960 he lived at Redwalls on the south side of Beech Hill near Beech Hill Park in Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire, when he executed a deed relating to the "residue" of the manuscripts of the nineteenth century bibliomaniac Sir Thomas Phillipps. [5] Between 1946 and 1957 when the Robinson Brothers retired, they owned an antiquarian bookshop in Pall Mall. After retirement, they spent time examining and sorting many of the remaining books from the collection of Thomas Phillipps and sending them to auction. In 1976 he was made a commander of the Order of the British Empire for charity work. [6] He married Kathleen (Kay) Sproat. Robinson died on 9 November 1983 and is buried at Southgate Cemetery with his wife.
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is bibliophilia, and someone who loves to read, admire, and a person who collects books is often called a bibliophile but can also be known as an bibliolater, meaning being overly devoted to books, or a bookman which is another term for a person who has a love of books.
Cyril Edward Gourley VC MM was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Alan Noel Latimer ('Tim') Munby (1913–1974) was an English author, writer and librarian.
William Barnsley Allen was a British Army medical officer who was decorated for gallantry four times during the First World War, including an award of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Charles Edward Haydon Parker VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Captain George Symons VC DCM was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Second Lieutenant George Ward Gunn VC MC was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Horace Henry Glasock VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that may be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Thomas Laughnan VC was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Isaac Lodge VC was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Captain Julian Royds Gribble VC was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Rear Admiral Eric Gascoigne Robinson was a Royal Navy officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He earned his award by going ashore and single-handedly destroying a Turkish naval gun battery while a lieutenant commander with the fleet stationed off the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War.
Brigadier General Edmund John Phipps-Hornby, was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet, was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century. He was an illegitimate son of a textile manufacturer and inherited a substantial estate, which he spent almost entirely on vellum manuscripts and, when out of funds, borrowed heavily to buy manuscripts, thereby putting his family deep into debt. Phillipps recorded in an early catalogue that his collection was instigated by reading various accounts of the destruction of valuable manuscripts. Such was his devotion that he acquired some 40,000 printed books and 60,000 manuscripts, arguably the largest collection a single individual has created, and coined the term "vello-maniac" to describe his obsession, which is more commonly termed bibliomania.
Roy Cecil Phillipps, MC & Bar, DFC was an Australian fighter ace of World War I. He achieved fifteen victories in aerial combat, four of them in a single action on 12 June 1918. A grazier between the wars, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1940 and was killed in a plane crash the following year.
James Savage (1767–1845) was an English antiquary, who worked as printer, bookseller, librarian and newspaper editor.
Craven Ord (1756–1832) was an English antiquarian. He was particularly noted for his brass rubbings.
The 1917 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in several editions of The London Gazette in January and February.
Codex Scardensis or Skarðsbók postulasagna is a large Icelandic manuscript containing Old Norse-Icelandic sagas of the apostles. It is, along with Flateyjarbók, one of the largest 14th century manuscripts produced in Iceland. The manuscript was written in c.1360 at the house of canons regular at Helgafell for Ormr Snorrason. From 1401 to 1807 it was housed at the church in Skarð. From 1827 until 1890 it was considered lost, with its printed edition being based on copies made in the 18th century. The manuscript returned to Iceland in 1965 after being purchased at Sotheby's in London by a consortium of Icelandic banks.
