File talk:Egyptian self-taught (Arabic) (1914).djvu

Carl Albert Thimm at the start of a 1891 book (A Complete Bibliography of the Art of Fence) has

BY CARL A THIMM FRGS late Captain 2nd London Rifles, (P. S.) Hon Librarian Inventors Institute London Librarian International Health Exhibition London 1884 Member of the Library Association of the United Kingdom Author of Organ Bibliography

If we figure he was 24 in 1884, that makes him 83 in 1943. The 1909 Bibliography of Trypanosomiasis seems to be last work by him I can find that doesn't seem to have been an old edition revised by someone else. He's mentioned as a colleague of Alfred Hutton (1839-1910) many places, but I don't think he was quite that old.

WorldCat claims he published one of his bibliographies in 1869, but that's clearly a typo for 1896. Not them, nor the Library of Congress nor the British Library has birth or death dates for him. Google Books has this illustration of him, but it's not very clear. (1891 was for A Complete Bibliography of the Art of Fence; his more well-known bibliography on the subject was 1896.)

I seriously doubt whether he was alive in 1943 for this to be in copyright in England, but it's possible.--Prosfilaes (talk) 21:41, 4 September 2014 (UTC)


 * No birth or death dates found from anything hosted on VIAF either. The last paragraph here is the only other worthwhile thing I could find mentioning him that is also framed with dates. -- George Orwell III (talk) 07:21, 21 September 2014 (UTC)


 * If we say he was 15 when he started helping his father with his literary endeavors, then he was 35 in 1889 and thus born in 1864. Which is not quite old enough to assume life+70.--Prosfilaes (talk) 22:37, 21 September 2014 (UTC)


 * If he is mentioned as a "colleague" of Alfred Hutton (1839-1910) more than just a few times, does that translate/infer in today's sense that they were more like 'co-workers' than 'cohorts'? or could they be both in spite of the apparent ~25 year age gap outlined in your last? Things that make you go Hmmmm :) -- George Orwell III (talk) 22:56, 21 September 2014 (UTC)
 * I found a few more clues, though leading to nothing as yet:
 * A similar entry, though without the reference to 20 years can be found in the third full paragraph of the right column of Page:Notes and Queries - Series 7 - Volume 8.djvu/48
 * In Dutch Self-Taught, Thimm signs the 1904 Preface: "Captain, late I.Y., South African Field Forces".
 * On Sept 7, 1878, the Illustrated London News reports at p. 230 that there was a "prize-meeting" of A Company, 2nd London under the command of Lieutenant C.A. Thimm.
 * This last entry does pretty well eliminate the possibility of him being born in 1864 though, as he would then be a Lieutenant at age 14, likely it should be set back at least 5 years to 1859.--Doug.(talk • contribs) 06:40, 17 February 2015 (UTC)
 * 1856-1932, other sources confirm he was from Lambeth.--Doug.(talk • contribs) 17:04, 17 February 2015 (UTC)