Jens Christian Bay

Jens Christian Bay (October 12, 1871 – April 11, 1962 ) was a Danish American writer and librarian.

Biography Jens Christian Bay was born in Rudkøbing, Denmark to Lars Hansen Bay (1828–1894) and Doris Oline Jørgine Christiansen (1828–1908). Bay came to the United States in 1892 and took a position with the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. He later worked for the Library of Congress and, in 1905 became a librarian at the University of Chicago. From 1928 to 1947 he was chief librarian of the John Crerar Library in Chicago.

Bay was recognized as an authority on many subjects, including rare books, but was particularly interested in botany, English literature, and the history of the American Midwest. He was a long-time friend of Young E. Allison, an author and newspaper editor of Louisville, Kentucky. Bay and Allison shared a variety of interests, including the history of Kentucky, Stephen Foster, James Whitcomb Riley, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Charles Dickens. Bay was also interested in the literature of his native Denmark, and was knighted by King Frederik IX in 1947.

Selected works Danish Fairy & Folktales, 1899 Bibliographies of Botany, 1909 Denmark in English and American Literature: A Bibliography, 1915

Echoes of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1920 Rare and Beautiful Imprints of Chicago, 1922 The Chalice of the Chipped Ruby, 1922 The Manuscripts of Robert Louis Stevenson's Records of a Family of Engineers, 1929 Om Danskhedens Vaesen, 1933 A Handful of Western Books, 1935 A Second Handful of Western Books, 1936 A Third Handful of Western Books, 1937 The Dummy Library of Charles Dickens at Gad's Hill Place, 1937 The Pickwick Papers: Some Bibliographical Remarks, 1938 The Fortune of Books, 1941 A Heroine of the Frontier: Miriam Davis Colt in Kansas, 1856, 1941 The Mystery of the Irish Crown Jewels, 1944 The John Crerar Library, 1895-1944: An Historical Report Prepared under the Authority of the Board of Directors by the Librarian, 1945 In the House of Memories, 1946 Journeys and Voyages to Nature: A Survey of One Hundred Books, 1950 The Bookman is a Hummingbird: Book Collecting in the Middle West and the House of Walter M. Hill, 1952 Mississippi: Pennestrog om Amerikas Kinge-AA, 1952 God Speede the Plough, 1953 George Washington: Citizen and Farmer, 1956 Bog-Ormen Vejer Videnskab og Visdom: En Laegmands Betragtninger, 1958 Tvende Verdener Modes: En Udvandrerlaeges Minder, 1960 Livet Laerte Mig, 1950 (contributor)