Although his name is often written as Humphrey Wanley, Wanley himself was insistent that it should be spelled Humfrey Wanley: writing to his friend Arthur Charlett in 1705, Wanley noted of the Bodleian catalogue, "In reading the Paper, I could not but smile, percieving [sic] that my name Humfrey which is a Saxon name, and which I as the Saxons did, do always write with an f, should there be printed with ph, as if I knew no better . . .". Wanley 's urge to identify himself with the Saxons is typical of his character; one of the earliest serious scholars of the Anglo-Saxon language, through his cataloguing work and paleographical research, Wanley helped lay the ground for the study of early English literature and culture. He also provides an unusually well-documented example of a professional librarian and bibliographer of the eighteenth century.

Wanley was born in Coventry on 21 March 1672. His...