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.
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ALBERT, Sidney P.
‘Shaw’s Advice to the Players of Major...
Reprinted from Modern Drama, XIV, 2 (1791).
£20
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ALFIERI, Vittorio, and Charles LLOYD, translator.
The Tragedies of Vittorio Alfieri; translated...
London, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees,...
First edition of this translation of Alfieri’s...
£450
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ARISTOPHANES.
The Frogs, a Comedy. Translated from the...
Oxford, J. and J. Fletcher; London,...
First edition in English, and the only...
£500
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ARISTOPHANES, and Henry Francis CARY, translator.
The Birds … with Notes.
London, Printed for Taylor and Hessey …...
First edition of the first metrical translation...
£350
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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
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BARTOLI, Adolfo.
Scenari inediti della Commedia dell’arte....
Florence, Sansoni, 1880.
Rare first edition, one of only 350 copies,...
£500
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BECQUE, Henry.
Les Corbeaux, pièce en quatre actes.
Paris, Tresse, [1882].
First and second editions of Becque’s...
£2000
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[CIRCUS.]
Programme of a show of acrobats and strongmen...
[Florence, 1833.]
Seemingly unrecorded advertisement and...
£375
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[CIRCUS.] SCHREYER, Heinrich.
Teatro del Corso.
Straordinario spettacolo di quadrupedi...
Seemingly unrecorded Bologna-printed broadside...
£450
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DAVIDSON, John.
Smith: a Tragedy.
Glasgow, Frederick W. Wilson and Brother, 1888.
First edition of a rare foray into drama...
£300
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DESFORGES, Pierre Choudard.
Tom Jones a Londres, Comédie en cinq actes...
Paris, Chez Prault, Imprimeur du Roi … 1789.
Later edition, first published 1782. Desforges’s...
£95
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ETHEREGE, George.
The comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub....
London, Printed for Henry Herringman ... 1669.
Fourth edition of Etherege’s first play,...
£500
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FENOUILLOT DE FALBAIRE, Charles-Georges.
Le fabricant de Londres, drame en cinq...
Paris, chez Delalain, 1771.
First edition of a London-set play by the...
£250
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[FOPPA, Giuseppe.] Francesco PANORMO, translator.
Aci e Galatea, a pastoral Opera, as represented...
London: Printed by C. Clarke … 1795.
First edition, very rare, of the dual-language...
£650
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GALLICO, Paul.
An archive of thirty-four scrapbooks compiled...
1928–1972.
A lovingly and meticulously compiled archive...
£5500
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GAY, John.
The Distress’d Wife. A Comedy. By the...
London: Printed for Thomas Astley … 1743.
First edition, the issue with no press...
£350
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GOFFE, Thomas.
The Couragious Turke, or, Amurath the First....
London, Bernard Alsop and Thomas Fawcett...
First edition of this violent Near Eastern...
£3000
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[HOARE, Prince.]
Songs, Duets, and Chorus, in the Prize;...
[London,] 1793.
First edition, scarce, of the libretto...
£350
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HOME, John.
Douglas: a Tragedy.
Edinburgh, George Reid & Co., 1798.
First illustrated edition, a handsome subscriber’s...
£250
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[JOHNSON, Charles].
Caelia: or, the perjur’d Lover. A Play....
London: Printed for J. Watts … 1733.
First edition. Caelia, Johnson’s...
£200