Symons, A.J.A. (Alphonse James Albert), 1900-1941

Alphonse James Albert Symons was born in a suburb of London and privately educated, until apprenticed to a furrier at age fourteen. With little experience in the book trade, he founded the First Editions Club, and soon published a bibliography of William Butler Yeats. An avid collector, he was editor of the Book-Collector's Quarterly, establishing himself as an authority on literature of the 1890s with essays and lectures. He wrote several biographies, notably The Quest for Corvo, an innovative work which emphasized his search for information about his subject.

Alphonse James Albert Symons, the author, bibliophile, and gastronome, was born on 16 August 1900 in Battersea, London, of Jewish parentage, and died in Colchester, Essex, on 26 August 1941. For fuller details of his life and achievements see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography .

British biographer and bibliophile A. J. A. (Alphonse James Albert) Symons was born in London in 1900. A brother to novelist and critic Julian Symons, A. J. A. Symons is most widely recognized for his experimental biography, The Quest for Corvo (1934), which explored the life of novelist Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo).

British biographer and bibliophile A. J. A. (Alphonse James Albert) Symons was born in London in 1900. A brother to novelist and critic Julian Symons, A. J. A. Symons is most widely recognized for his experimental biography, The Quest for Corvo (1934), which explored the life of novelist Frederick Rolfe (Baron Corvo).

Other biographies written by Symons include Emin, the Governor of Equatoria (1928) and H.M. Stanley (1933). Symons also wrote A Bibliography of the First Editions of Books by William Butler Yeats (1924), An Anthology of 'Nineties' Verse (1928), and The Nonesuch Century (1936). Some of A. J. A. Symons's essays and short biographical studies were published posthumously by Julian Symons in Essays and Biographies (1969).

A. J. A. Symons, who founded the First Edition Club (London), served as one of the editors of The Book-collectors Quarterly, its official publication.

Several of Symons's literary projects, including a bibliography of the 1890s writers and a biography of Oscar Wilde, remained incomplete at the time of his death.

A. J. A. Symons, who also founded the Wine and Food Society, died on August 26, 1941.

Magnusson, Magnus (ed.) Cambridge Biographical Dictionary . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. p. 1425.