English Literature
Contact Donovan Rees
British literature and history from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, with an emphasis on poetry, fiction, and drama.
We usually have a selection of literary works from the STC and Wing period (i.e. before 1701), and a broad range of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century fiction and poetry, particularly the Romantics. We also have a selection of historical manuscripts, prints and broadsides, and works in translation.
Among important works which have passed through our hands are the editor's presentation copy of Milton's Lycidas, Swift's Modest Proposal, the autograph draft of Byron's She walks in beauty, the autograph manuscript of Jane Austen's only play Sir Charles Grandison, Dickens’s copy of Vanity Fair, Trollope's classical library, and, over the years, some fifty Shakespeare First Folios.
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ALBERT, Sidney P.
‘Shaw’s Advice to the Players of Major...
Reprinted from Modern Drama, XIV, 2 (1791).
£20
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ALFIERI, Vittorio. LLOYD, Charles, translator.
The Tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri; translated...
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees,...
First edition of this translation, which...
£450
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ARISTOPHANES.
The Birds … Translated by the Rev. Henry...
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey …...
First edition. ‘Given how much...
£350
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AUDEN, Wystan Hugh, and Christopher ISHERWOOD.
The Dog beneath the Skin or where is Francis?...
London, Faber and Faber Limited, [1954].
Sixth impression. When Bridson had reviewed...
£100
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AUDEN, Wystan Hugh, and Chester KALLMAN.
The Magic Flute.
London, Faber & Faber, [1957].
First UK edition. Auden composed...
£125
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BARTOLI, Adolfo.
Scenari inediti della Commedia dell’arte....
Florence, Sansoni, 1880.
Rare first edition, one of only 350...
£500
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BECQUE, Henry.
Les Corbeaux, pièce en quatre actes.
Paris, Tresse, [1882].
First and second editions of Becque’s...
£2000
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BERNIER DE MALIGNY, Aristippe-Félix.
Art du comédien. Principes généraux. ...
Paris, Louis Raymond, [1819].
Very rare broadside encapsulating the...
£875
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CAREY, Henry.
The Dramatick Works …
London: Printed by S. Gilbert, 1743.
First collected edition, published in the...
£650
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CARTWRIGHT, William.
Comedies, Tragi-comedies, with other Poems...
London, Printed for Humphrey Moseley … 1651.
First edition of the witty and elegant...
£1750
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[COLLEGIO DEI NOBILI DI MODENA.]
Il buon’ uso della vittoria, ossia Publio...
Modena, eredi di Bartolomeo Soliani, [1776].
First edition. A scarce play with music...
£450
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DAVENANT, William, Sir.
Two excellent Plays: the Wits, a Comedie:...
London, Printed for G. Bedel, and T. Collins...
First collected edition of two plays...
£950
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DAVIDSON, John.
Smith: a Tragedy.
Glasgow, Frederick W. Wilson and Brother, 1888.
First edition of a rare foray into drama...
£300
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DESFORGES, Pierre Choudard.
Tom Jones a Londres, Comédie en cinq actes...
Paris, Chez Prault, Imprimeur du Roi … 1789.
Later edition, first published 1782....
£95
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ETHEREGE, George.
The comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub....
London, Printed for Henry Herringman ... 1669.
Fourth edition of Etherege’s first play,...
£500
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EURIPIDES.
Τραγωδιαι οκτωκαίδεκα...
Basel, apud Ioan. Hervagium ,1537.
Second edition of the complete extant...
£3750
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GALLICO, Paul.
An archive of thirty-four scrapbooks compiled...
1928–1972.
A lovingly and meticulously compiled...
£5500
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GAY, John.
The Distress’d Wife. A Comedy. By the...
London: Printed for Thomas Astley … 1743.
First edition, the issue with no press...
£350
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GAY, John.
The Beggar’s Opera … The third Edition:...
London: John Watts, 1729.
Third (and only quarto) edition of The...
£750
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[JOHNSON, Charles].
Caelia: or, the perjur’d Lover. A Play....
London: Printed for J. Watts … 1733.
First edition. Caelia, Johnson’s...
£200