Robert Steele (1860–1944) was a British scholar, best known for editing between c. 1905 and 1941 the 16-volumeOpera hactenus ineditaRogeri Bacon.[1]
Early in his life Steele was a disciple ofWilliam Morris, who was apparently influential in directing young Steele's attention towards studying medieval writings, and also attracted Steele's political views towardssocialism. After studying chemistry, Steele was for a brief time a teacher of this subject atBedford School. He soon abandoned this job and moved to London where he worked as a freelance journalist, writing for various literary and socialist publications.[1] He became a member of theFabian Society.[2]
One of his early works, with a preface by Morris, wasMediaeval lore fromBartholomew Anglicus, a selective modernization of a medieval encyclopedia, edited—according toGeorge Bernard Shaw's review—"with a nice sense of how much modern readers are likely to stand."[3] Steele's first major work on medieval manuscripts wasThe Earliest English Arithmetics, published with the help of theEarly English Text Society. Later he publishedEarly English Music Printing with theBibliographical Society. He was able to visit France, Italy, and Russia; the latter visit helped him writeThe Art of the Russian Icon published with theMedici Society.[1]
His publications of Bacon's works attracted funding from severallearned societies, as well as aCivil List Pension and anHonorary Doctorate fromDurham University. He was also one of the early Executive Members of theInternational Academy of the History of Science. His house and personal library were destroyed in aGerman air raid in 1941. He had ten children.[1]
Steele's edition of Bacon'sSecretum secretorum, with its lengthy introduction and numerous notes, is seen as the modern basis for its study by English scholars.[4] However, Steele's view that Bacon's reading of theSecretum was the turning point towards experimentalism in Bacon's philosophy is viewed with skepticism by later scholars like S.J. Williams, who nonetheless acknowledge the special place that theSecretum played in Bacon's own writings.[5]
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