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. [CHAPBOOK.]

    Narrow Escape from the Punishment of Death,...

    London: Printed by Augustus Applegath...

    An uncommon early chapbook from the press...

    £225

  2. CHESTERFIELD, Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of.

    Letters written … to his Son, Philip...

    London: Printed for Dodsley … 1777.

    Eighth edition, a very pretty set.

    £250

  3. CHURCHILL, Winston S.

    A History of the English-Speaking Peoples,...

    London, Cassel & Company Ltd, [1956; –...

    First editions, with dust-jackets, of Churchill’s...

    £200

  4. CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer; F. RHODES, editor; Angus McNEILL, illustrator.

    The River War: An Historical Account of...

    [London, Spottiswoode & Co. for] London,...

    First edition of Churchill’s second book,...

    £2500

  5. [CIRCUS.]

    Programme of a show of acrobats and strongmen...

    [Florence, 1833.]

    Seemingly unrecorded advertisement and...

    £375

  6. [CIRCUS.] SCHREYER, Heinrich.

    Teatro del Corso.

    Straordinario spettacolo di quadrupedi...

    Seemingly unrecorded Bologna-printed broadside...

    £450

  7. CLAUDIANUS, Claudius.

    Claudii Claudiani Alexandrini, poetae illustriss. quotquot...

    Paris, Simon de Colines, 1530.

    First Colines edition of the major works...

    £850

  8. CLEVELAND, John.

    Clievelandi Vindiciae: or, Clieveland’s...

    London, Printed for Robert Harford ... 1677.

    First edition, the issue with Robert Harford’s...

    £950

  9. CLEVELAND, John.

    Clievelandi Vindiciae: or, Clieveland’s...

    London, Printed for Nath. Brooke ... 1677

    First edition, the issue with Nathaniel...

    £250

  10. COBDEN-SANDERSON, Annie; Marianne TIDCOMBE, editor.

    The Prison Diary of Annie Cobden-Sanderson,...

    [Marlborough,] Libanus Press, 2017.

    The imprisonment of Annie Cobden-Sanderson,...

    £25

  11. COLERIDGE, S[amuel] T[aylor].

    The Watchman. No. I [III, IV]. Tuesday,...

    Bristol: and sold by the Booksellers and...

    Three (of ten) issues of The Watchman,...

    £750

  12. COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor.

    Biographia Literaria; or biographical Sketches...

    London: Rest Fenner … 1817.

    First edition. Coleridge’s estimates...

    £450

  13. COLERIDGE, S[amuel] T[aylor].

    The Statesman’s Manual; or the Bible...

    London: Printed for Gale and Fenner …...

    First edition of the first of Coleridge’s...

    £200

  14. [COLLEGIO DEI NOBILI DI MODENA.]

    Il buon’ uso della vittoria, ossia Publio...

    Modena, eredi di Bartolomeo Soliani, [1776].

    First edition. A scarce play with music...

    £450

  15. [COLVIL, Samuel.]

    ‘Mock Poem, or Whiggs Supplication Part ii’.

    1670s?

    A fine early manuscript of the second part...

    £1250

  16. COMIDAS DE CARBOGNANO, Cosimo.

    Primi principi della gramatica Turca ad...

    Rome, stamperia della Sac. Congr. di Prop....

    The first complete Ottoman Turkish grammar...

    £1500

  17. [COTTLE, Joseph.]

    Poems, containing John the Baptist. Sir...

    Bristol, Printed by Bulgin and Rosser,...

    First edition. The Bristol bookseller Joseph...

    £6000

  18. [COURTESAN.]

    Les confessions d’une courtisane devenue...

    ‘London’ and Brussels, Le Francq, 1784.

    First edition (another appeared in the...

    £850

  19. [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

  20. CROMARTY, George Mackenzie, Earl of.

    An historical Account of the Conspiracies...

    First edition, dedicated to Queen Anne,...

    £150