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27-501: The London Record Society is a text publication society founded in 1964 whose objectives are to stimulate public interest in archives and similar historical material relating to London . The President of the society is the Lord Mayor of London . The Society is a registered charity . The society holds an annual public lecture about London archives and publishes transcripts, translations, abstracts and lists of primary sources relating to

54-682: A broader range of activities, and in certain cases – for example, the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society and the Kent Archaeological Society – continue to do so. In other cases, a new society has broken away from its parent archaeological society to become an independent body dedicated solely to text publication: examples include the Surrey Record Society and the Wiltshire Record Society . In

81-410: A dictionary maker he had an unfortunate lack of patience, discipline and accuracy. After having lost the sub-editors for A, I, J, N, O, P, and W through his irascibility or caprice, he finally resigned. He continued, however, to provide thousands of quotations for the dictionary until his death. OED editor James Murray said of Furnivall: "He has been by far the most voluminous of our 'readers', and

108-647: A lady's maid, which would have been a socially unusual match at the time, although her social status is disputed. Some time before 1866, Furnivall lost a child, Eena, whom he described as "my sweet, bright, only child". He lost his inheritance in a financial crash in 1867. When he was 58, he separated from Eleanor and their one surviving son to continue a relationship with a 21-year-old female editor named Teena Rochfort-Smith . Two months after his formal separation from Eleanor, in 1883, Rochfort-Smith suffered serious burns while burning correspondence in Goole and died. Furnivall

135-657: A lifelong campaigner against injustice. Frederick James Furnivall was born on 4 February 1825 in Egham , Surrey, the son of a surgeon who had made his fortune from running the Great Fosters lunatic asylum. He was educated at University College, London , and Trinity Hall, Cambridge , where he took an undistinguished mathematics degree. He was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in 1849 and practised desultorily until 1870. In 1862 Furnivall married Eleanor Nickel Dalziel ( c.  1838  – 1937). Some authors describe her as

162-412: A prime mover in many of the early ventures. In the second half of the 19th century the government-sponsored Rolls Series took over some of the territory of the amateur societies, particularly in respect of the publication of chronicles . The productions of several of the early societies included literary texts, but by the end of the 19th century, the majority of societies were tending to focus instead on

189-463: Is most commonly found in the United Kingdom , but has also been adopted in other countries. In the 19th century, when many societies were founded, they were sometimes known as book clubs . They have also been termed printing clubs . Those that publish exclusively archival material are often known as record societies or records societies . The principle of subscription publishing – funding

216-660: The Early English Text Society , for the Roxburghe Club and the Rolls Series ; but his most important work was on Geoffrey Chaucer . His "Six-Text" edition of the Canterbury Tales was a new conception. It has been described as containing full and accurate transcriptions, though some modern scholars disagree about his merits as an editor. His work, and that of the amateurs he recruited, was often slapdash, but it

243-716: The University of Berlin . In April 1902 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge . Furnivall indefatigably promoted the study of early English literature . He founded a series of literary and philological societies: the Early English Text Society (1864), the Chaucer Society (1868), the Ballad Society (1868), the New Shakspere Society (1873), the Browning Society (1881, with Emily Hickey ),

270-636: The 21st century, partly as a result of the growing quantity of historical research materials now available online, many societies have experienced a significant decline in membership numbers, and consequent difficulties in maintaining their traditional business model. Societies have responded to the challenge in various ways, including by selectively uploading some of their publications to the World Wide Web , while continuing to publish other materials in print. Frederick James Furnivall Frederick James Furnivall FBA (4 February 1825 – 2 July 1910)

297-709: The History of our forefathers under its different characters". The Chetham Society , founded in 1843, concerned itself in much the same way with the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire . From the 1880s onwards, many societies focused on a single county. A particularly energetic advocate was W. P. W. Phillimore , who was active in the foundation of the British Record Society , Scottish Record Society , Thoroton Society , Canterbury and York Society , and Irish Record Society. Several county archaeological and historical societies undertook text publication as just one among

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324-594: The Wyclif Society (1882), and the Shelley Society (1885). Some of these, notably the Early English Text Society , were very successful; all were characterised by extreme controversy. The most acrimonious of all was the New Shakspere Society, scene of a bitter dispute between Furnivall and Algernon Charles Swinburne . These societies were primarily textual publishing ventures . Furnivall edited texts for

351-716: The case of the London Record Society and the Canterbury and York Society ; the Royal Historical Society, exceptionally, aims for two volumes per year). Others, however, publish on an irregular and occasional basis, as the completion of editorial work allows. Volumes are usually also made available for sale to non-members, but the price is invariably higher than that paid (either as the retail price or through subscriptions) by members, thereby establishing an incentive for interested parties to join. The model originated and

378-616: The dissemination of valuable historical texts as widely as possible. Nevertheless, their activities tended to appeal to the "monied and educated" classes: in 1838, 20% of the Camden Society 's members were clergymen, 9% held legal qualifications, and 36% were Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries . Success being dependent on fund-raising and the attraction of new members, the early societies often suffered from financial and organisational troubles. Controversy followed Frederick James Furnivall ,

405-474: The founders of the Working Men's College , and although he later became agnostic he always retained a connection with the college. He conceived of the college as a classless, democratic community of learning. One biographer wrote that he formed there a conviction that "scholarship could be pursued by quite ordinary people in a spirit of good-humoured enthusiasm" that was to be the key to his later life. Furnivall

432-425: The history of London. The society usually publishes one major scholarly work per annum which is provided free to members. Typical recent publications have included: From volume 46 onwards, the society's publications have been published by Boydell and Brewer , from whom the society's back catalogue is also available. Volumes 1–40 are available at British History Online . Text publication society Members of

459-588: The principle that each member should sponsor the publication of an edition of a rare work of interest to members, and that other volumes would be published by the Club collectively. In both cases, the volumes were intended for distribution to the entire membership. The Club's first publication, donated by Sir William Bolland and issued in 1814, was the Earl of Surrey 's translation of parts of Virgil 's Aeneid , originally printed in 1557. One early Roxburghe Club member (from 1822)

486-473: The publication of archival records. This continued to be the pattern in the 20th century. The Durham-based Surtees Society , founded in 1834 and modelled in part on the Scottish Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs, was the first English society to adopt a specifically regional remit, in its case the elucidation of the history of the area constituting the ancient kingdom of Northumbria . Its establishment

513-405: The publication of a volume by securing multiple advance subscriptions from individuals interested in buying the final product – was first established in the 17th century, and routinely adopted during the 18th. The idea of extending the model to the membership of a society was initiated by the Roxburghe Club , founded in 1812 as a convivial association of bibliophiles , but which rapidly introduced

540-560: The slips in his handwriting and the clippings by him from printed books, and from newspapers and magazines, form a very large fraction of the millions in the Scriptorium." Furnivall joined the Philological Society in 1847 and was its Secretary from 1853 almost until his death in 1910 at the age of 85. He received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Oxford and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from

567-474: The society (private individuals or institutions) pay an annual subscription , in return for which they either automatically receive a copy of each volume as it is published, or (as in the case of, for example, the Royal Historical Society ) are eligible to purchase volumes at favourable members' rates. Some societies attempt to keep to a regular cycle of publishing (generally one volume per year, as in

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594-461: Was Sir Walter Scott , who was inspired by it to establish the Bannatyne Club to print works of interest for Scottish tradition, literature, and history. Other special-interest societies followed. In contrast to the exclusive Roxburghe Club (which had an elite membership and issued its publications as luxurious limited editions), most had broad membership criteria, and had as their primary objective

621-510: Was a non-smoker and teetotaller all his life. He took interest in physical fitness and was a vegetarian for twenty-five years. Furnivall died on 2 July 1910. Furnivall was one of the three founders and, from 1861 to 1870, the second editor of the Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ). Despite his scholarship and enthusiasm, his stint as editor of the OED nearly ended the project. For

648-678: Was always an enthusiastic oarsman , and kept up his interest in rowing till the end of his life. With John Beesley in 1845, he introduced the new type of narrow sculling boat, and in 1886 started races on the Thames for sculling fours and sculling eights. In 1896 Furnivall founded the Hammersmith Sculling Club (now called Furnivall Sculling Club ), initially for working-class girls, and he "entered into its activities with his usual boyish enthusiasm, for it brought together two of his favourite activities: vigorous outdoor exercise and enjoyment of

675-537: Was an English philologist , best known as one of the co-creators of the New English Dictionary . He founded a number of learned societies on early English literature and made pioneering and massive editorial contributions to the subject, of which the most notable was his parallel text edition of The Canterbury Tales . He was one of the founders of and teachers at the London Working Men's College and

702-422: Was deeply rooted in local pride: in an early prospectus, James Raine (its principal founder and first secretary) drew attention to just a few unpublished manuscripts of Durham interest, "which, in these times, few individuals would incur the risk of printing at their own cost; but which nevertheless, afford even singly, how much more collectively, the most valuable materials to those who are anxious to study rightly

729-400: Was substantial, and it laid the foundation for all subsequent editions. He was one of a small group of Victorian scholars who have been credited with establishing the academic study of English literature. In the 1850s, Furnivall became involved in various Christian socialist schemes and his circle included Charles Kingsley and John Ruskin . It was through this group that he became one of

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