Edward Williams Byron Nicholson (16 March 1849 – 17 March 1912) was a British author and Bodley's Librarian, the head of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, from 1882 until his death in 1912. Early life and career Nicholson was born in St. Helier, Jersey. His father, a former member of the Royal Navy, participated in the California Gold Rush and died in America, leaving Nicholson's mother in poverty. She moved back to her mother's house in Llanrwst, north Wales. Nicholson was educated at Llanrwst Grammar School, Liverpool College (for one term) and Tonbridge School. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford, from 1867, initially reading classics before obtaining a third-class degree in Law and Modern History in 1871. During his time at Oxford, he won the Gaisford Prize for Greek Verse in 1871 and the Hall-Houghton Junior Greek Testament Prize in 1872. Nicholson married Helen Grant on 1 February 1876; they had three daughters. Nicholson had been the librarian at Tonbridge School and was the honorary Librarian of the Oxford Union Society from 1872 to 1873, and produced catalogues of the contents of each library, demonstrating his aptitude for cataloguing. After spending some time teaching, he became Principal Librarian and Superintendent of the London Institution in 1873. He reinvigorated the organisation, which promoted education through lectures and a library, and helped to increase its activities, membership and income, as well as the quality of its library. An international conference of librarians was held in London in 1877, largely through his work, leading with his help to the foundation of the Library Association of the United Kingdom. He was a council member until 1881, when he resigned complaining that the council had failed to instigate "one single improvement however trifling in library-management or library-appliances". Oxford Bodley's Librarian (the head of the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford), Henry Octavius Coxe, died in 1881. Nicholson applied for the post, relying on his experience as a librarian and his organisational skills to compensate his lack of experience in palaeography, bibliography and languages. He was a surprise choice, as the position had traditionally been held by scholar-librarians, but he had the support of Benjamin Jowett (Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1882 and Master of Balliol College) and others who thought that the Bodleian needed reform. The library was cramped, under-staffed and poorly catalogued, but was still regarded as one of the