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.

  1. ALDINGTON, Richard.

    All Men are Enemies, a Romance.

    London, Chatto & Windus, 1933.

    First trade edition, inscribed ‘For...

    £200

  2. [BAGE, Robert].

    Hermsprong; or, Man as he is not. A Novel...

    London: Printed for William Lane, at the...

    First edition of Bage’s last and finest novel.

    £2400

  3. [BECKFORD, William.]

    Vathek, conte Arabe.

    Paris, Chez Poinçot ... 1787.

    First Paris edition of Beckford’s...

    £3250

  4. [BERINGTON, Simon, adapted by Jean-Baptiste DUPUY-DEMPORTES.] 

    Memoires de Gaudence de Luques, prisonnier...

    Amsterdam and Leipzig, Arkstée & Merkus,...

    Second edition of this much expanded...

    £500

  5. BINGFIELD, William, pseud.

    The Travels and Adventures of William Bingfield,...

    London: Printed for E. Withers ... and...

    First edition of one of the most entertaining...

    £2100

  6. BLANCHARD, Edward Litt Leman.

    A Pipe of Tobacco: with Whiffs and Clouds...

    London: H. Beal … [1840s?].

    First edition, by the editor and...

    £125

  7. BROUGHAM, Henry Lord.

    Albert Lunel. A Novel ... In three Volumes ...

    London: Charles H. Clarke ... [1872].

    First edition, Sadleir’s ‘really scarce’...

    £450

  8. [BURNEY, Frances, Madame D’ARBLAY].

    Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress. By the...

    London: Printed for T. Payne and Son ......

    Third edition, published in March 1783....

    £250

  9. [BURY, Lady Charlotte].

    The Exclusives. In three Volumes ...

    London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley...

    First edition of a society novel written...

    £950

  10. ČAPEK, Karel.

    Meteor … Translated by M. and R. Weatherall.

    London, George Allen & Unwin, [1935].

    First edition in English of Povětroň...

    £1500

  11. CARR, Lisle.

    Judith Gwynne …

    Henry S. King & Co. … London, 1873

    First edition, a scarce romance-cum-society...

    £200

  12. ‘CARROLL, Lewis’ [i.e. Charles Lutwidge DODGSON].

    Feeding the Mind ... With a Prefatory Note...

    London, Billing and Sons, Ltd for Chatto...

    First edition in book form, wrappers issue....

    £100

  13. [COLONNA, Francesco.] 

    Poliphili hypnerotomachia, ubi humana omnia...

    Venice, [heirs of Aldus], 1545. 

    Second edition, scarcer than the first...

    £24000

  14. CRAWFORD, F. Marion.

    Saracinesca ... in three Volumes ...

    William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...

    First edition. The prolific American novelist...

    £280

  15. DE BEAUVOIR, Simone.

    The Mandarins. A Novel …

    Cleveland and New York, The World Publishing...

    First edition in English, signed by De...

    £750

  16. DESENFANS, Noel Joseph.

    Les deux Hermites, dédié a mylord Lyttelton...

    A Londres; chez R. Davis … J Ridley...

    First and only edition, uncommon, of an...

    £650

  17. DESFORGES, Pierre Choudard.

    Tom Jones a Londres, Comédie en cinq actes...

    Paris, Chez Prault, Imprimeur du Roi … 1789.

    Later edition, first published 1782....

    £95

  18. DICKENS, Charles.

    Mäster Humphreys Klocka … Förra [–Sednare]...

    Stockholm, Hos. L. J. Hjerta, 1842.

    First edition in Swedish, very rare, of...

    £850

  19. DICKENS, Charles.

    The Nonesuch Dickens. The Complete Works...

    London, The Nonesuch Press, 1937-38.

    Limited edition of 877, of which...

    £6750

  20. DICKENS, Charles. 

    The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club...

    London, Chapman & Hall, 1837. 

    First edition, first issue.  The...

    £2000