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. SOUTHEY, Robert.

    The Lay of the Laureate. Carmen Nuptiale …

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

    First trade edition of Southey’s laureate...

    £200

  2. SPENSER, Edmund.

    The Works of Edmund Spenser.

    Oxford, The Shakespeare Head Press, 1930...

    Limited edition, numbered 123 of 375 copies,...

    £875

  3. STEVENSON, Robert Louis.

    Poems …

    London, [Florence Press for] Chatto &...

    £100

  4. SULLIVAN, J.P., editor.

    Ezra Pound, a critical Anthology.

    [London, Penguin, 1970.]

    First edition.

    £30

  5. [SWIFT, Jonathan].

    Miscellanies in Prose and Verse.

    London: Printed for John Morphew ... 1711.

    First edition, ordinary paper issue, the...

    £1250

  6. 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

  7. [SWIFT, Jonathan.]

    On Poetry: a Rapsody.

    Printed at Dublin, and Re-printed at London:...

    First edition. On Poetry, one of...

    £750

  8. SWIFT, Jonathan (attr.).

    The Life and genuine Character of Doctor...

    London: Printed for J. Roberts … and...

    First edition. Authorship of this fine...

    £1000

  9. SYMONS, Arthur, editor.

    The Savoy.

    London, Leonard Smithers, 1896.

    First edition of this outstanding, though...

    £3000

  10. TENNYSON, Alfred, [later Lord]; A. L. BOND, illustrator.

    The Miller’s Daughter …

    London, Published by W. Kent & Co late...

    A handsome edition of The Miller’s...

    £120

  11. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord.

    Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington…

    London: Edward Moxon … 1852.

    First edition of Tennyson’s ode to the...

    £100

  12. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord.

    Maud, and other Poems …

    London: Edward Moxon … 1855.

    First edition, containing the first appearance...

    £150

  13. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord.

    Ballads and other Poems.

    London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. … 1880.

    First edition. Wise, Tennyson 138; Tinker 2093.

    £75

  14. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord.

    Locksley Hall Sixty Years after etc.

    London: Macmillan and Co. … 1886.

    First edition. Wise, Tennyson 156; Tinker 2098.

    £60

  15. TENNYSON, Alfred Lord.

    The Princess: a Medley … Fourth edition.

    London: Edward Moxon … 1851.

    Fourth edition, with ‘changes of very...

    £275

  16. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord. 

    In Memoriam. 

    London, Edward Moxon … 1850.

    First edition, first issue, with the misprints...

    £950

  17. TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord.

    A Welcome …

    London: Edward Moxon & Co. … 1863.

    Second edition, distinguished from the...

    £40

  18. THOMAS, Dylan.

    Under Milk Wood. A Play for Voices …

    London, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1954.

    First edition, first impression, our copy...

    £1500

  19. TREVLYN, Valda.

    High Death.

    Falkland, K.D. Duval, 1970.

    One of 100 copies of this poem on death...

    £75

  20. VERLAINE, Paul, and Léon LEBÈGUE (illustrator).

    Fêtes gallantes.

    Paris, F. Ferroud for the Librairie des...

    Limited edition on vélin teinté d’Arches,...

    £750