Paul Needham (librarian)

Paul Needham
Paul Needham
Born	1943 (age 80–81)
Nationality	American
Education	Swarthmore College (B.A.); Harvard University (Ph.D.);
Occupations	Academic librarian; lecturer;
Employers	Princeton University (1998–2020); Sotheby's (1990–1998); Pierpont Morgan Library (1971–1990); Huntington Library (1970–1971);
Awards	Bibliographical Society Gold Medal (2011); Guggenheim Fellowship (1984);

Paul Needham (born 1943)^[1] is an American academic librarian. From 1998 to 2020, he worked at the Scheide Library at Princeton University. A Guggenheim Fellow and Bibliographical Society Gold Medallist, Needham has delivered the Sandars Readership in Bibliography at the University of Cambridge, the A. S. W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Lyell Lectures at the University of Oxford. His focus is on incunabula, the earliest printed books in Europe.

In his role as an expert on incunabula, Needham has assisted investigations into forgeries, including tracking down a stolen letter by Christopher Columbus and assisting Nick Wilding in exposing the forged early edition of Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius. Needham is also noted for his outspoken stance against the preservation and maintenance of anthropodermic books, or books bound in human skin, and is one of the most prominent voices in the rare book world against their upkeep.

^ "Needham, Paul, 1943–". Library of Congress. January 12, 2021. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

[loc-1] "Needham, Paul, 1943–". Library of Congress. January 12, 2021. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

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