Expert on paper history; scholar on the works of Renaissance dramatist James Shirley.

Allan Henry Stevenson (1903-1970) was best known for his innovative work on watermarks as a means of dating early printed books. Born in Canada, Stevenson came to the U.S. as a child. He graduated from Rice University (B.A.; 1924, M.A., 1926) and took a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1949. He taught at Rice, the University of Chicago, DePaul University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 1952 he left teaching to continue his research as a professional bibliographer. His research was supported by a number of grants (e.g. from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Huntington Library, the Newberry Library, the Fulbright Commission, and the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia) as well as by his wife, Rachel Waples Stevenson, a pioneering television producer in Chicago, whom he met at Rice and married in 1949.

Allan Stevenson developed a new method for the bibliographical description of botanical books while cataloging the collection of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt between 1956 and 1961; his best-known work was a study of the Constance Missale Speciale, using watermark evidence to prove its date. Stevenson was member of many learned societies and was particularly active in the Bibliographical Society (London), the International Association of Paper Historians, and the Paper Publications Society.