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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LUCIAN, of Samosata.
Deorum dialogi... una cum interpretatione...
Strassbourg, Johannes Schott, 1515.
First edition edited and translated by...
£2100
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STRAPAROLA, Giovanfrancesco.
Le piacevoli notti di messer Giovanfrancesco...
Venice, Domenico Giglio, 1558.
An early edition of both volumes of...
£2750
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TEMPLE, Sir William.
An Introduction to the History of England …
London, Printed for Richard Simpson …...
First edition. Newly arrived in England...
£450
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MANLEY, Mrs. [Delarivier].
The Power of Love: in seven Novels viz. ...
London, Printed for John Barber … and...
First edition, apparently a presentation...
£2500
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[FÉNELON, François de Salignac de La Mothe.]
The Adventures of Telemachus, the son of...
London, M. Matthews; A. Bettesworth; T....
First illustrated edition of the first...
£550
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MARINI, Giovanni Ambrogio.
The Desperadoes; an heroick History. Translated...
London: Printed by W. R. and sold by T....
First and only edition in English of Le...
£1000
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MARIVAUX, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de.
Le Paysan parvenu: or, the fortunate Peasant....
London: Printed for John Brindley …...
First edition in English, originally published...
£650
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SWIFT, Jonathan.
The Works of J. S, D. D, D. S. P. D. in...
Dublin: Printed by and for George Faulkner,...
First 12mo. edition of the first collected...
£1250
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VERTAMONT, Abbé de, attributed.
L’Ombre du feu Cardinal: or, Cardinal...
Milles … and the Booksellers of London...
First edition, ostensibly translated...
£350
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[FIELDING, Sarah.]
The adventures of David Simple: containing...
London, printed for A. Millar, 1744.
First edition, very fine. The first...
£1500
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[THOMPSON, Thomas].
The genuine tryal of Dr. Nosmoth, a physician...
London, for Mary Cooper, 1746.
First edition, a satire, putting Dr....
£175
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[SMOLLETT, Tobias].
The Adventures of Roderick Random … in...
London: Printed for J. Osborn … 1748.
Second edition, with ‘major imaginative...
£500
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FIELDING, Henry.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling....
London: Printed for A. Millar … 1749.
Second edition, although not so...
£1350
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[MURDER.]
A Warning Piece against the Crime of Murder:...
[London,] Printed for Wiliam Owen …...
First edition, very scarce, a fascinating...
£300
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BOUDIER DE VILLEMERT, Pierre-Joseph.
L’Andrometrie, ou examen philosophique...
Paris, chez Brunet, 1753.
First editions of two scarce works by...
£2500
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[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
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[JOHNSON, Samuel].
The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale. In two...
London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley...
First edition of Johnson’s only novel,...
£1600
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[JOHNSON, Samuel].
The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale …
London: Printed for R. and J Dodsley and...
First edition of Johnson’s only novel,...
£4500
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[JOHNSTONE, Charles].
The Reverie: or, a Flight to the Paradise...
London, Printed for T. Becket, and P....
Loeber & Loeber J45; Raven 724.
£450
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SMOLLETT, Tobias.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker … The...
London, Printed for W. Johnston … and...
Second edition of Smollett’s acknowledged...
£275