Born and raised in Newcastle, England, the brothers were introduced to the book trade at an early age when they began working at the bookshop that had been established by their grandfather in 1881. In 1916 Lionel left to join the army and fight in WWI. After the war he decided not to return home immediately, but instead to take a job with the firm of Henry Sotheran and Co, which was in the business of selling rare books. The job gave him the chance to meet prominent book dealers and become better acquainted with rare books. He spent a year working with them in London before returning home to Newcastle. He then rejoined his father and his brother, Philip, working in their shop. In 1920 Lionel and Philip put out their first catalogue, and in June of 1930 the boys left to open their own shop in London, registering it as William H. Robinson Ltd, after their grandfather. Over the next few years the Robinsons' business grew and they made a name for themselves among the book elite all over the world and in 1938 Lionel became president of the Antiquarian Booksellers association. However, the thing that the Robinson brothers are most famous for is buying the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872). The collection had been handled by the family since the time of Phillipps' death, and in that time many lucrative sales had already taken place. At the time that it was bought by the Robinsons many people were skeptical of whether or not the collection would contain any more valuable materials, people were also concerned about the sheer size of the collection, which the Robinsons ended up splitting between a house and the crypt of a mausoleum that was located nearby. The Robinsons found that there was still an abundance of valuable material in the collection and they were able to pay off the loans they had used to obtain the collection and also make a good profit. The size of the collection, however, did prove to be a problem and in December of 1956 the Robinsons closed their bookstore to allow them more time to process the collection. In time they found that this task would not be achieved in their lifetimes and they left the project in the hands of others.