Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Ellis, Frederick Startridge
ELLIS, FREDERICK STARTRIDGE (1830–1901), bookseller and author, the sixth son of Joseph Ellis, hotel-keeper, of Richmond, was born there on 7 June 1830. He entered, at the age of sixteen, the house of Edward Lumley of Chancery Lane, and afterwards became assistant to C. J. Stewart, the well-known bookseller of King William Street, Strand, from whom he acquired his knowledge of books. In 1860 he went into business for himself at 33 King Street, Covent Garden, and in 1871 took into partnership G. M. Green (1841–1872), who had enjoyed the same training. After the death of Green in 1872 Ellis took the premises, 29 New Bond Street, previously occupied by T. & W. Boone, and carried on a large and successful business, chiefly in old books and MSS. His next partner was David White, who retired in 1884. For many years Ellis was official buyer for the British Museum, which brought him into rivalry with trade opponents in the auction rooms. Mr. Henry Huth entrusted to him the editing of the catalogue of his famous library, which was printed in 1880 (5 vols., large 8vo). The English books were catalogued by W. C. Hazlitt, those in other languages by Ellis. Another excellent catalogue compiled by Ellis was 'Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Drawings and Etchings by Charles Meryon, formed by the Rev. J. J. Heywood' (1880, 4to, privately printed). He also produced 'Horæ Pembrochianæ: some account of an illuminated MS. of the Hours of the B.V.M., written for William Herbert, first earl of Pembroke, about 1440 (1880), and a biographical notice appended to an account of 'The Hours of Albert of Brandenburg,' by W. H. J. Weale (1883, 4to). In 1885 he retired from business, and his stock of rarities was sold by Messrs. Sotheby for about 16,000l. He was succeeded in business by Mr. G. I. Ellis, a nephew.
Ellis was a publisher on a limited scale, and brought out the works of William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, with whom he formed a close personal intimacy. Among other friends were A. C. Swinburne, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and John Ruskin, whose 'Stray Letters to a London Bibliopole' were addressed to Ellis and republished by him (1892). Ruskin called him 'Papa Ellis' (E. T. Cook, Life of John Ruskin, 911, i. 371). It was in 1864 that Morris was first introduced by Swinburne to Ellis. They remained close friends to the end of Morris's life, and Ellis was one of the poet's executors (J. W. Mackail, Life of W. Morris, 1899, i. 193).
After his retirement from business he gave himself up to a literary life. The first fruits of his labours on Shelley was 'An Alphabetical Table of Contents to Shelley's Poetical Works,' drawn up for the Shelley Society in 1888. He devoted six years to compiling 'A Lexical Concordance to the Poetical Works of P. B. Shelley; an attempt to classify every word found therein according to its signification' (1892, 4to), an excellent piece of work on which his reputation must largely rest. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Morris's Kelmscott Press, and read the proofs of the folio edition of Chaucer's 'Works' (1896), Morris's masterpiece of printing, and edited many other productions of that press, including Cavendish's Life of Wolsey' (1893); Caxton's 'Golden Legend' (1892), which also appeared in the 'Temple Classics' (1899 and 1900). He further edited Guillaume de Lorris's 'Romance of the Rose,' 'englished' (1900, 'Temple Classics'), and 'H. Pengelly's Memoir,' with a preface (1897), and contributed some memoirs to Quaritch's 'Dictionary of English Book Collectors.'
He died at Sidmouth on 26 Feb. 1901, after a short illness, in his seventy-first year. He was a widely read and accomplished man, tall of stature and handsome in appearance, warm-hearted and good-natured, of genial manners, with a wide circle of literary and artistic friends.
His portrait was painted by H. S. Tuke, A.R.A.
He married in 1860 Caroline Augusta Flora, daughter of William Moates of Epsom, and left issue two sons and a daughter, who with his wife survived him.
[Family information; The Tunes, 1 March 1901; Athenæum, 2, 9, and 16 March 1901; Bookseller, 7 March 1901; Note by W. Morris on the Kelmscott Press, with a description by S. C. Cockerell, 1898. See also J. W. Mackail's Life of W. Morris, 1899, 2 vols.; D. G. Rossetti, his family-letters, 1895, 2 vols.; Letters of D. G. Rossetti to W. Allingham, by G. B. Hill, 1897; D. G. Rossetti as designer and writer, notes by W. M. Rossetti, 1889, passim; W. Roberts, The Book-Hunter in London, 1895, p. 245 (portrait).]