Yesterday’s Daily Telegraph announces the death of Alan Scott Bell. He was former librarian (1993-2002) 0f the London Library where he oversaw major building projects and computerization. According to an earlier notice on the London Library’s website, his death occurred on 24 April 2018. As explained in that notice:
Alongside his highly successful library career, Alan actively pursued wider literary and antiquarian interests. He was a regular reviewer in the TLS and other London journals and his work for publication included a biography of Sydney Smith (1980), editing The Letters of Henry Cockburn and contributing to Histories of Oxford University and the Oxford University Press. He was appointed a Visiting Fellow at All Soul’s College, Oxford in 1980 and from 1993 worked as an advisory editor on the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Following his retirement he continued his literary projects including providing editorial assistance with the Oxford edition of The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh.
He is listed with Alexander Waugh as co-editor of of CWEW v. 30, Personal Writings 1903-1921: Precocious Waughs which was published last year. Prior to joining the Library, Alan had enjoyed:
a distinguished career in collection development that began on graduation from Selwyn College, Cambridge with his appointment as Assistant Registrar to the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, and included fifteen years as Assistant Keeper at the National Library of Scotland (1966–81) and twelve years as Librarian at the University of Oxford Rhodes House Library (1981–93).
