George Dunn (1864-1912)

George Dunn was born in 1864, the son of George Dunn of Bath House, Newcastle, and was educated at Beaumont College and Stonyhurst. He was called to the bar but never practised as he inherited extensive estates in Northumberland and Berkshire from his father. He was therefore able to devote himself to his various interests which included bibliography, astronomy and forestry, though he was also a sportsman and keen angler.

His particular interest was bibliography and he built an outstanding collection of rare books and manuscripts at his home in Wooley Hall near Maidenhead. In particular, he collected incunabula, medieval manuscripts (particularly those with fine bindings) and early legal manuscripts and documents. Over the years, he became a great authority on all these areas and was particularly noted for his knowledge of incunabula. He was editor of the Type Facsimile Society’s series of portfolios and he himself privately published over 400 facsimiles of pages from incunabula in his collection.

Dunn never married. He died of pneumonia in 1912, aged just 47. His collection was sold in a number of sales at Sotheby’s between 1913 and 1917.