Fredson Bowers was a man of wide interests, tireless energy, and many skills. He will be remembered primarily for his extensive contributions to the theoretical study of descriptive bibliography, analytical bibliography, and textual criticism, and for the practical application of his research in specific studies and editions. Though these three specialities are separable, their coordination in his work will render it of permanent value.

His extraordinary accomplishments were recognized and honored at home and abroad. They take their justification from his inspirational teaching, his many writings, his services to the profession, and, particularly, from the series Studies in Bibliography, the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, established in 1948 on the base of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia, which in company with others he founded in the previous year. Of this series, published annually, he was named editor, a position he held...