English Literature

Contact Donovan Rees or Zach Larsen

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.

  1. [COTTON, Charles.]

    Scarronnides: or, Virgile Travestie. A...

    London, ‘printed by E. Cotes for Henry...

    First edition of the second part of Cotton’s...

    £400

  2. [COURTESAN.]

    Les confessions d’une courtisane devenue...

    ‘London’ and Brussels, Le Francq, 1784.

    First edition (another appeared in the...

    £850

  3. [COURTILZ DE SANDRAS, Gatien de.]

    Les dames dans leur naturel, ou la galanterie...

    ‘A Cologne’ [but The Netherlands],...

    First edition, uncommon, of this tale of...

    £685

  4. CROMARTY, George Mackenzie, Earl of.

    An historical Account of the Conspiracies...

    First edition, dedicated to Queen Anne,...

    £150

  5. [CUMBERLAND, Richard.]

    Arundel. By the author of the Observer.

    London, Printed for C. Dilly … 1789.

    First edition. Richard Cumberland (1732–1811)...

    £1500

  6. CUMMINGS, E. E.

    i: six nonlectures.

    Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University...

    First trade edition, inscribed to the BBC...

    £750

  7. [CURLL, Edmund, editor.]

    Impartial Memorials of the Life and Writings...

    London, Printed in the Year 1736.

    First separate edition, amusing but in...

    £450

  8. [CURLL, Edmund, et al.]

    An impartial History of the Life, Character,...

    London, Printed for E. Curll …, 1741.

    First edition of this obituary pamphlet...

    £650

  9. CURTIUS RUFUS, Quintus.

    De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni regis Macedonum...

    Basel, Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus...

    Handsome folio edition of Curtius Rufus’...

    £2000

  10. DALLAS, R[obert] C[harles.]

    Sir Francis Darrell; or The Vortex: a Novel...

    London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and...

    First edition of this epistolary novel...

    £1600

  11. DANETT, Thomas.

    A Continuation of the Historie of France,...

    London, Printed by Thomas East for Thomas...

    First edition, an original history composed...

    £1800

  12. [DANIEL, Yuli Markovich,]

    pseud. ‘Nikolai ARZHAK’. Говорит...

    Munich, I. Baschkirzew for Washington,...

    First edition, smuggled out of the Soviet...

    £150

  13. DANTE Alighieri; Mario CASELLA, editor; H.F. Cary, translator.

    La divina commedia or the divine Vision...

    [London], The Nonesuch Press, 1928.

    First Nonesuch numbered 1292 of 1475 copies,...

    £1000

  14. [DA PORTO, Luigi.]

    ‘Lettere di Alvigi da Porto vicentino...

    [Milan, c. 1800].

    A manuscript of an influential and then-unpublished...

    £950

  15. DAVID, [Pierre Drapeyron de].

    A History of the Campaigns of General Pichegru,...

    London, for G.G.J. & J. Robinson, 1796.

    First edition in English, printed in the...

    £185

  16. DAVIDSON, John.

    Smith: a Tragedy.

    Glasgow, Frederick W. Wilson and Brother, 1888.

    First edition of a rare foray into drama...

    £300

  17. DE BEAUVOIR, Simone.

    The Mandarins. A Novel …

    Cleveland and New York, The World Publishing...

    First edition in English, signed by De...

    £750

  18. [DEFOE, Daniel.] 

    [Incipit:] Ye True-born Englishmen...

    [London, 1701.] 

    One of a number of editions (at least seven)...

    £1000

  19. [DE LA COSTE.]

    Voyage philosophique d’Angleterre fait...

    A Londres. Et se trouve à Paris, chez...

    First edition, second issue, with cancel...

    £250

  20. DENNIS, John.

    The Grounds of Criticism in Poetry, contain’d...

    London, Printed for Geo. Strahan … and...

    First edition. Published as a ‘preliminary’...

    £1250