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| H. R. Plomer | |
|---|---|
| Name | H. R. Plomer |
| Birth date | 3 April 1883 |
| Birth place | London |
| Death date | 24 October 1948 |
| Death place | Hampstead |
| Occupation | Literary critic; bibliographer; bookseller; editor; novelist |
| Notable works | A Bibliography of the Works of T. E. Lawrence, The Asian Mystery, Set as a Flint |
| Spouse | Charlotte Freeman (m. 1914) |
H. R. Plomer
Henry Robert Plomer (3 April 1883 – 24 October 1948) was an English bibliographer, bookseller, editor, critic and novelist associated with the early 20th‑century Anglo‑Irish literary and publishing scene. He published bibliographies, novels and essays, edited periodicals, and worked as a literary adviser and cataloguer; his correspondence and collaborations linked him with figures across Bloomsbury Group, T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, D. H. Lawrence, and T. E. Lawrence. Plomer's work bridged bibliographical scholarship and contemporary literary networks in London, Oxford, and the wider British publishing world.
Born in London to a family involved in clerical and ecclesiastical circles, Plomer was educated at St Paul's School, London and later at Merton College, Oxford, where he read classics and developed interests in bibliography and literature. At Oxford he encountered contemporaries from the emerging modernist milieu, intersecting with students who later associated with Bloomsbury Group, E. M. Forster, Aldous Huxley, and Vita Sackville-West. His early academic formation included study of classical texts and exposure to collectors and antiquarian booksellers frequenting university circles such as Blackwell's and private bookrooms connected to Bodleian Library. These influences shaped his bibliographical rigor and tastes that later informed work with publishers including Chatto & Windus and Faber and Faber.
Plomer wrote across genres: critical essays, short stories, novels, and bibliographies. His fiction—works such as Set as a Flint—drew attention from reviewers at The Times Literary Supplement, The Athenaeum, and The Spectator and was discussed alongside novels by D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, and Virginia Woolf. As a critic he contributed to periodicals including The Bookman, The Dublin Review, and The Fortnightly Review, engaging with poetry of W. B. Yeats, drama of George Bernard Shaw, and prose of Joseph Conrad. Plomer's bibliographical output included authoritative listings and annotations: most notably catalogues of manuscripts and printed editions related to T. E. Lawrence and other contemporary writers, work that intersected with collectors at Sotheby's and librarians at institutions such as the British Museum. He also compiled thematic bibliographies touching on travel literature tied to names like Gertrude Bell, Richard Burton, and explorers connected to Royal Geographical Society circles.
Plomer served as an editor and literary adviser for several publishing houses and journals. He worked with Faber and Faber and earlier with Chatto & Windus, advising on manuscripts by authors including T. S. Eliot, A. E. Housman, and Hilaire Belloc; his role often combined editorial assessment with bibliographical cataloguing for limited editions. As a periodical editor he produced issues featuring contributions from James Joyce‑era modernists and Irish revivalists linked to W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. He also managed bookshop catalogues and sale lists that circulated among collectors frequenting Sotheran's and Birrell and Garnett; his descriptive cataloguing reflected standards used by curators at the Bodleian Library and the British Library. During his career Plomer liaised with printers such as R. & R. Clark and private presses influenced by William Morris and Kelmscott Press, informing limited press runs and typographical decisions.
Plomer married Charlotte Freeman in 1914; their social and literary circle included figures in Bloomsbury Group, Irish literary revivalists around Dublin, and publishing personalities from London and Oxford. He maintained close professional and personal correspondences with T. E. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, and bibliophiles such as Sir Thomas Bodley‑descendants and collectors active at Sotheby's. Plomer's friendships extended to booksellers and printers—contacts at Blackwell's, Sotheran's, and the Private Libraries Association—and to academics at institutions like King's College London and University College London, who valued his bibliographic acumen. His domestic life in Hampstead and travels to Paris and Dublin informed his literary tastes and network.
Plomer's contemporaneous reputation combined respect for meticulous bibliography with modest recognition as a novelist and critic; reviews in The Times Literary Supplement, The Spectator, and The Observer reflected mixed but attentive responses that situated him among peers including E. M. Forster and D. H. Lawrence. Bibliographers and librarians at the British Library and Bodleian Library have cited his catalogues and sale lists for provenance research, and scholars of T. E. Lawrence, W. B. Yeats, and early 20th‑century publishing continue to consult his descriptive work in archives such as the National Archives (UK) and private collections dispersed through Sotheby's sales. Modern studies of the Bloomsbury Group and Irish Literary Revival note his role as connector between authors, collectors, and publishers, and twentieth‑century bibliographical scholarship acknowledges his contribution to standards later developed by institutions like the Bibliographical Society and university presses.
Category:1883 births Category:1948 deaths Category:English bibliographers Category:English editors Category:English novelists