Buckle, Henry Thomas (1821–1862)

Henry Thomas Buckle was an eminent British historian. He was born at Lee, in Kent. Despite having had no formal education, he was to become one of the most celebrated British historians of the 19th century. Traveling widely, he taught himself 19 languages and devoted himself to writing an extensive and detailed history of English civilization.

The vast extent of this project can be gauged by Buckle's book, Introduction to the History of Civilization in England (originally published in two volumes, 1857 and 1861), which became an international best seller. The definitive critical edition of this work, edited by J. M. Robertson, consists more than 900 pages in small type, and this edition was merely intended to be an introduction to additional volumes. Buckle never lived ...