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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[GRANT, Charles, Vicomte de Vaux.]
Recueil d’Essais, ou précis des opinions, et des mémoires, du Vte de *** …
A Londres: De l’Imprimerie de T. Spilsbury & Fils. 1793.
An interesting tract volume, containing the scarce collected thoughts of Charles Grant, vicomte de Vaux (a subscriber’s copy), a fine illustrated guide to Nîmes and the Pont du Gard, and three pamphlets relating to a controversy in the medical faculty in Edinburgh.
£1500
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[GRANVILLE, George, Baron Lansdowne].
Poems upon several Occasions.
London: Printed for J. Tonson … 1712.
First edition; containing ‘all the Poems which have been written by the Right Honourable George Granville Lord Lansdown, very few of which have been ever before printed’. Granville (1666-1735) wrote his first play, The She-Gallants, at age 15, and his adaptation of Shakespeare, The Jew...
£350
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[GRATTAN, Thomas Colley].
The Heiress of Bruges; a Tale of the Year Sixteen Hundred … In four Volumes …
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley … 1830.
First edition of Grattan’s first novel, a sprawling historical romance set in the Low Countries during the time of Spanish occupation, charting the fortunes of the eponymous heiress and her numerous suitors alongside the military upsets of the period. It was ‘one of the best historical romances of...
£450
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[GREENE, Asa.]
The Perils of Pearl Street, including a taste of the dangers of Wall Street, by a late merchant.
New York, Betts & Anstice and Peter Hill, 1834.
First edition of a very early Wall Street novella, the fictional tale of Billy Hazard, an innocent carpenter’s son from rural New York state determined to make it as a merchant in the city. Billy’s attempts to establish himself in the mercantile trade in New York City are ultimately unsuccessful...
£2750
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GREENE, Graham.
A burnt-out Case.
London, Heinemann, [1961].
Uncorrected proof copy of the first edition in English. This was evidently used as a review copy, with the upper cover annotated in pencil ‘700 words by Nov 28’. The unknown reviewer has made several notes in pencil on the half-title: ‘Criticism – c[oul]d come from the soc[ial] realist...
£275
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GREEN, Matthew.
The Spleen. An Epistle inscribed to his particular Friend Mr. C. J. …
London; Printed: and sold by A. Dodd … 1737.
First edition of Green’s best-known poem. In witty octosyllabics he describes the activities and pleasures of a rural life as the best remedy for the spleen – which at this time meant boredom and melancholy. The poem is addressed to his friend Cuthbert Jackson. It was published shortly after Green’s...
£600
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[GUARINI, Giovanni Battista.]
Il Pastor Fido.
‘In Parigi, appresso Tomaso Iolly, 1706’.
Scarce Parisian edition of Guarini’s immensely popular ‘pastoral tragi-comedy’, charmingly illustrated by Antonio Luciani.
£175
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GUAZZO, Marco.
Historie di M. Marco Guazzo di tutti i fatti degni di memoria nel mondo successi dal 1524 sino a l’anno 1549....
Venice, Giolito, 1549.
First edition thus, this copy owned by the future Pope Clement XII, of a remarkable history of recent and contemporary events, first published in 1540 and here updated by almost ten years, resuming the account of world event and Italian politics and including references to American history from 1522.
£3600
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[HABINGTON, William.]
Castara … the second Edition. Corrected and augmented.
London, Printed, B. A. & T. F. for Will: Cooke, 1635.
Second edition, adding to the contents of the first edition (1634) a commendatory poem that reveals Habington’s identity; a ‘second part’ with twenty-six new poems; and three prose characters: ‘A Mistris’ and ‘A Wife’ to introduce the two parts, and ‘A Friend’ to introduce the section...
£3500
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[HAKEWILL, William].
The Manner of holding Parliaments in England, collected forth of our ancient Records … With the stately...
[London,] Printed in the Yeare, 1641.
First (and only lifetime) edition, signed on the title-page by the notorious forger of ‘Shakespeare’s Library’, William Henry Ireland (1775–1835).
£950
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HALIFAX, George Savile, Marquis of.
Miscellanies … viz. I. Advice to a Daughter. II. The Character of a Trimmer. III. The Anatomy...
London: Printed for Matt. Gillyflower … 1700.
First edition, the issue without the two rows of ornaments to the title-page, and with Q4-R3 uncancelled. Defoe’s Letter to a Dissenter (first published 1688) rather than Halifax’s was printed in error on leaves Q4-R3, and these leaves are cancelled in later issues (in the present copy Q4 is torn...
£450
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HALLAM, Arthur Henry.
Remains, in Verse and Prose …
[London,] Printed by W. Nicol, 1834.
First edition, a presentation copy from the editor, the historian Henry Hallam, to his late son’s friend and fellow Cambridge ‘Apostle’ James Spedding. The prefatory memoir by Hallam senior includes a long letter from Spedding (‘one of his most valued friends’) (pp. xx-xxvi), here...
£5000
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HALL, Major Herbert Byng.
The Adventures of a Bric-a-Brac Hunter …
London: Tinsley Brothers … 1868.
First edition of a charming travel guide to Europe for the dilletante porcelain collector; some of the sketches that make up the book first appeared in the Belgravia magazine.
£275
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[HALL STEVENSON, John.]
Makarony Fables …
London: ‘Printed for Circulation among private Subscribers only’, 1897.
Limited edition, numbered 172 of 300 copies, of this collection of satiric fables in verse by the poet and satirist John Hall-Stevenson (1718–1785), reprinted from the original edition of 1768. Hall-Stevenson’s reputation relies heavily on his friendship with Laurence Sterne, his contemporary...
£100
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HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel.
Transformation: or, the romance of Monte Beni [Title on spine: The Marble Faun].
Leipzig, Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1860 [c. 1878].
First edition thus, extra-illustrated with ninety-nine albumen print photographs.
£850
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HAYLEY, William, and William BLAKE (illustrator).
Ballads … founded on Anecdotes relating to Animals, with Prints...
Chichester, J. Seagrave, for London, Richard Phillips, 1805.
First edition of William Hayley’s sixteen Ballads illustrated by William Blake, with a fine provenance, plates I–III in the first state.
£3500
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HAYWARD, Thomas.
The British Muse, or, a Collection of Thoughts moral, natural, and sublime, of our English Poets: who flourished...
London, Printed for F. Cogan … and J. Nourse … 1738.
First edition of this interesting antiquarian miscellany of literary extracts. The subjects, arranged alphabetically, range from ‘Abbeys’ to ‘Youth’ via ‘Abstinence’, ‘Hypocrite’ ‘Mediocrity’ ‘Rebellion’ ‘Self-Murder’, and ‘Travel’. The authors quoted include Beaumont,...
£575
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HAY, William.
Mount Caburn. A Poem. Humbly inscribed to Her Grace the Dutchess of Newcastle …
London: Printed for J. Stagg … 1730.
First edition. Hay’s only original poetic composition, Mount Caburn is a celebration of his native Sussex, historical, antiquarian and archaeological, as viewed from a hill fort on the South Downs near Lewes. The poem is dedicated to Henrietta Pelham-Holles, wife of the secretary of state, hinting...
£375
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HAZLITT, William.
Conversations of James Northcote, Esq., R.A. …
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley … 1830.
First edition of Hazlitt’s final book, an inflammatory collection of gossip published just weeks before his death. ‘All the ill-nature in the book is Northcote’s; and all, or almost all, the talent’s, Hazlitt’s’ (Examiner, May 1833).
£200
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HAZLITT, William.
Conversations of James Northcote, Esq., R.A. …
London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley … 1830.
First edition of Hazlitt’s final book, an inflammatory collection of gossip published just weeks before his death. ‘All the ill-nature in the book is Northcote’s; and all, or almost all, the talent, Hazlitt’s’ (Examiner, May 1833).
£250