George Ticknor (August 1, 1791 – January 26, 1871), was an American teacher and author. August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ...

Ticknor was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his early education from his father, Elisha Ticknor (1757-1821), former principal of the Franklin public school and a founder of the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of the system of free primary schools in Boston, and of the first New England savings bank. In 1805 George entered the junior class at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1807. During the next three years he studied Latin and Greek with Rev. Dr John Sylvester John Gardiner, rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and a pupil of Dr Samuel Parr. In 1810 Ticknor began the study of law, and he was admitted to the bar in 1813. He opened an office in Boston, but practised for only one year. He went to Europe in 1815 and for nearly two years studed at the University of Göttingen. Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub of the Universe (The State House, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes, is the hub of the Solar System), Athens of America Location in Massachusetts Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas Menino (D) Area    - City 232. ... Dartmouth College is a private academic institution in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... The Rev. ... Trinity Church in Boston. ... Samuel Parr (January 26, 1747 - March 6, 1825), English schoolmaster, son of Samuel Parr, a surgeon, was born at Harrow-on-the-Hill. ... 1810 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The stela of King Hammurabi depicts the god Shamash revealing a code of laws to the king. ... The Georg-August University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, often called the Georgia Augusta) was founded in 1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover, and opened in 1737. ...

In 1817 he became Smith professor of French and Spanish languages and literatures (a chair founded in 1816), and professor of belles-lettres at Harvard University, and began teaching in 1819, after travel and study in France, Spain and Portugal. During his professorship Ticknor advocated the creation of departments, the grouping of students in divisions according to proficiency, and the establishment of the elective system, and reorganized his own department. In 1835 he resigned his chair, in which he was succeeded in 1836 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; and he returned to Europe in 1835-1838. 1817 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet who wrote many works that are still famous today, including The Song of Hiawatha, Paul Reveres Ride and Evangeline. ...

After his return he devoted himself to the chief work of his life, the history and criticism of Spanish literature, in many respects a new subject at that time even in Europe, there being no adequate treatment of the literature as a whole in Spanish. Both Friedrich Bouterwek and Jean Charles Leonard de Sismondi had worked with limited or secondhand resources. Ticknor developed in his college lectures the scheme of his more permanent work, which he published es the History of Spanish Literature (New York and London, 3 volumes, 1849). The book is not merely a story of Spanish letters, but, more broadly, of Spanish civilization and manners. The History is exhaustive and exact in scholarship, and direct and unpretentious in style. It gives many illustrative passages from representative works, and copious bibliographical references. Spanish literature may refer to: literature composed in the Spanish language literature of Spain in any of the languages of Spain It may include Spanish poetry, prose and novels. ... Friedrich Bouterwek (1766 - August 9, 1828), German philosopher and critic, was born at Oker, near Goslar in Lower Saxony, and studied law at Göttingen. ... Jean Charles Leonard de Sismondi (May 19, 1773 - June 25, 1842), whose real name was Simonde, was a writer born at Geneva. ...

It was soon translated into Spanish (1851-1857) by Pascual de Gayangos y Arce and de Vedia; into French by Magnabal; and German by NH Julius and Ferdinand Wolf. The second American edition appeared in 1854; the third corrected and enlarged, in 1863; the fourth, containing the author's last revision, in 1872, under the supervision of George Stillman Hillard; and the sixth in 1888. Pascual de Gayangos y Arce (June 21, 1809 - October 4, 1897), was a Spanish scholar and Orientalist. ... George Stillman Hillard (September 22, 1808 - January 21, 1879), American lawyer and author, was born at Machias, Maine. ...

Ticknor had succeeded his father as a member of the Primary School Board in 1822, and held this position until 1825; he was a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum in 1823-1832, and was vice-president in 1833; and he was a director (1827-1835) and vice-president (1841-1862) of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, and a trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital (1826-1830) and of the Boston Provident Institution for Savings (1838-1850), the bank that his father had helped to found. He was especially active in the establishment of the Boston Public Library (1852), and served in 1852-1866 on its board of trustees, of which he was president in 1865. On its behalf he spent fifteen months abroad in 1856-1857, at his own expense, and to it he gave at various times money and books; a special feature of his plan was a free circulating department. He left to the library his own collection, which was particularly strong in Spanish and Portuguese literatures. Boston Athenæum is an historical independent library and museum in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. ... The Boston Public Librarys McKim building The Boston Public Library was established in 1848. ... The word trustee is a legal term that refers to a holder of property on behalf of some other beneficiary. ...

Ticknor's minor works include, besides occasional reviews and papers:

• Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on the History and Criticism of Spanish Literature (1823)
• Outline of the Principal Events in the Life of General Lafayette (1825)
• Remarks on Changes Lately Proposed or Adopted in Harvard University (1825)
• The Remains of Nathan Appleton Haven, with a Memoir of his Life (1827)
• Remarks on the Life and Writings of Daniel Webster (1831)
• Lecture on the Best Methods of Teaching the Living Languages, delivered, in 1832, before the American Institute of Education
• the Life of William Hickling Prescott (1864).

See Life, Letters and Journals of George Ticknor (2 vols., 1876), by George S Hillard and Mrs Anna (Eliot) Ticknor and Miss Anna Eliot Ticknor. This book was edited, with a critical introduction, in 1909, by Ferris Greenslet. Ferris Greenslet (1875, Glens Falls, New York -- 1959, Boston) was an American editor and writer. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.