Sir Sydney Cockerell achieved acclaim as a master of descriptive bibliography, a celebrated museum director, and a world-renowned book collector. A gifted correspondent and a gregarious man, throughout his long life Cockerell developed friendships with a variety of literary luminaries, ranging from John Ruskin and William Morris to George Bernard Shaw and Thomas Hardy. As secretary at Morris's Kelmscott Press, Cockerell honed his skills in calligraphy and typography, and the revitalized popularity of italic type during the twentieth century is often attributed, at least in part, to his efforts. As a descriptive bibliographer, Cockerell devoted himself to the collection and description of a variety of medieval manuscripts. Cockerell's consummate achievement, however, grew from his work as director of the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University. Cockerell spent nearly three decades engaged in financing and renovating its collection and appearance, and his work at Cambridge earned for him a host...