Inglis, John Bellingham, 1780-1870

Biography/History

John Bellingham Inglis (1780-1870) was born in London, the son of a British entrepreneur. His father was a partner in the firm of Inglis, Ellice and Co., and held the positions of Director and Chairman of the East India Company. After his father died, succumbing to financial bankruptcy in the market, Inglis retired from his independent venture in the wine trade and relied upon the remnants of his father’s depleted wealth to live in retirement at his residence in St. John’s Wood, and later, Hampstead Heath. Inglis died at 13 Albion Road, N.W. in the winter of 1870.

Inglis is most well-known for his book collecting. He began collecting at an early age and by the prime of his life he had amassed an important collection of incunabula and early printed works. Included among these were the highly sought after first edition of the Speculum Humanæ Salvationis, the Historia Sancti Johannis Evangelistæ ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ, and a Biblia Pauperum . He also collected fine copies of works from the presses of Caxton, Machlinia, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, Julyan Notary and Verard of the incunable period. Moreover, Inglis owned a number of canonical early-modern works including a Heures de Rome, with illustrations by Geoffroy Tory, as well as first edition Spenseriana, most notably, the Faerie Queene .

The bulk of his collection was sold first in 1871, and then again 1900, but his books surfaced in the market via Sotheby’s auction as early as June 9, 1826. As noted by other collectors and scholars of the book trade, Inglis had a unique habit of pasting and otherwise inserting various annotations, page-cuttings and engravings in his books, a habit which has been called his "peculiar mania." This practice reflected another somewhat unusual habit Inglis had as a book collector, that he, in fact, read his fine books. In addition to being a distinguished book collector, Inglis was also a respected independent scholar and translator in his own right. In 1832, he earned the distinction of being the first to translate the Philobiblon of Richard de Bury from Latin into modern English; and he later had his translation published through his bookseller, Thomas Rodd. Additionally, Inglis made a number of translations of various other medieval and early modern editions of classical, humanist, and religious texts, that to date remain unpublished.