Robert Bell (January 16, 1800 - April 12, 1867) was an Irish man of letters.
Bell was born at Cork, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was one of the founders of the Dublin Historical Society. In 1828 he settled in London, where he edited a weekly paper, the Atlas, and until 1841 worked as ajournalist.
His most important work is his annotated edition of the English Poets (24 vols., 1854-1857; new ed., 29 vols., 1866), the works of each poet being prefaced by a memoir. For Lardner's, Cabinet Cyclopaedia he wrote: History of Russia (3 vols., 1836-1838); Lives of English Poets (2 vols., 1839); a continuation, with W Wallace, of Sir James Mackintosh's History of England (vols. iv.-x., 1830-1840); and the fifth volume (1840) of the Lives of the British Admirals, begun by Robert Southey. He was a director of the Royal Literary Fund, and well known for his open-hearted generosity to fellow men of letters.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.