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. JENKINS, Edward.

    The Devil’s Chain … Twentieth Thousand....

    [Southwark, M’Corquodale and Co. for]...

    A reissue of the illustrated edition, from...

    £100

  2. JENKINS, Edward.

    The Devil’s Chain … Twenty-sixth Thousand....

    William Mullan & Son … London … Belfast,...

    25th Thousand, according to the binding,...

    £100

  3. SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, Caius.

    [De XII Caesarum vitis. De Illustribus...

    Paris, Typographia Regia, 1644.

    An attractive, illustrated pocket Suetonius....

    £350

  4. ‘A.C.’ and ‘A.L.C.’

    Dialogue entre un médecin et un homme...

    Paris, chez les marchands de nouveautés, 1824.

    Rare first edition of this entertaining...

    £375

  5. BUONACCORSI, Biagio, and Niccolò VALORI. 

    Diario de’ successi piu importanti seguiti...

    Florence, Filippo & Jacopo Giunta, 1568. 

    First edition of an insider account of...

    £1000

  6. MADDEN, Dodgson Hamilton.

    The Diary of Master William Silence: A...

    London, New York, & Bombay, Longmans,...

    First edition of Madden’s reimagination...

    £120

  7. ZANCHI, Basilio.

    Dictionarium poeticum, et epitheta veterum...

    Mons, Luca Rivius, 1612.

    Scarce Mons-printed edition of Zanchi’s...

    £375

  8. [MEDICAL DICTIONARY.]

    Dictionary of medical terms, Latin-English...

    [S.l., early 1800s].

    An interesting manuscript compiled by an...

    £450

  9. [MACDONNEL, David Evans.]

    A Dictionary of Quotations, in most frequent...

    London, G. G. and J. Robinson, 1797.

    First edition, rare, of the first English...

    £650

  10. JOHNSON, Samuel.

    A Dictionary of the English Language: in...

    London, W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton,...

    First edition of ‘the most amazing, enduring...

    £20000

  11. DIO CASSIUS.

    Dione historico delle guerre et fatti de...

    Venice, Niccolò Zoppino, March 1533.

    First edition of Dio Cassius’s Roman...

    £2500

  12. MACDIARMID, Hugh.

    Direadh I, II and III …

    [Stamperia Valdonega for] Frenich, Foss,...

    First edition, no. 29 of 200 signed copies...

    £175

  13. MACDIARMID, Hugh.

    ‘Direadh’ in Agenda Vol 2,7-8,

    May-June 1962.

    £25

  14. [REEVE, Gabriel].

    Directions left by a Gentleman to his Sonns:...

    London, Printed by E. T. and R. H. for...

    Sole edition of one of the first books...

    £650

  15. PAXTON, P[eter].

    A Discourse concerning the Nature, Advantage,...

    London, printed by E. P. for R. Wilkin...

    First edition of this important but little-studied...

    £900

  16. GUILLIM, John.

    A Display of Heraldrie: manifesting a more...

    London, Thomas Cotes for Jacob Blome, 1638.

    Third edition, corrected and enlarged,...

    £950

  17. GAY, John.

    The Distress’d Wife. A Comedy. By the...

    London: Printed for Thomas Astley … 1743.

    First edition, the issue with no press...

    £350

  18. 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

  19. WALKER, George.

    Don Raphael, a Romance …

    London, Printed for G. Walker; and T. Hurst;...

    First edition. ‘In order to satisfy the...

    £3250

  20. PORTER, Jane.

    Duke Christian of Luneburg; or, Tradition...

    London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees,...

    First edition. One of the earliest exponents...

    £650